What is an almanac?

• A book of facts• A reference book• Gives hundreds of pieces of

information and data• Is published once a year

When would I use an almanac?

• When doing research for a school project

• Especially when you need straight forward facts or statistics

• For fun! You may just want to learn some interesting new things.

You might ask…..

How do I use an almanac?

The most important tool when using the almanac is…..

The Index

The Index is:

• In the back of the almanac

• Lists all the topics in the almanac in alphabetical order

• Tells what page number(s) to find each topic on inside the almanac

• Look up the keyword you are searching for in the index.

• The keyword is the main thing the question is asking you.

Here’s an example:

If you wanted to know the population of Detroit, Michigan, the keyword would be……..

Detroit or Michigan

because these words are what the question is mainly about.

When you turn to the page about Detroit, Michigan you will then have

to skim and scan the page.

Skim and scan

Means you briefly scan down the page with your eyes looking for

keywords from the question like:

Detroit, Michigan or

population.

Also look at bold headings to tell you what each section is about.

When you see the keywords you’re looking

for, slow down and then begin to read carefully for the specific information

you’re looking for.

And there you have it, the basics of the wonderful reference tool we call the

almanac!

Have fun!