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Welcome to the English Language Learner (ELL) Reference Center tutorial. ELL Reference Center will help you do research, build your
background knowledge on many topics, and develop your reading comprehension skills. In this tutorial, we will look at browsing by category
and a basic keyword search. We will also review some of the ELL Reference Center content and features.
ELL content has four main categories: History, Civics & Culture; Life Skills; Literature; and Science.
Let’s begin by selecting the first category.
Next, select a subject and navigate to a list of topics. Then select a topic from the list and start your research.
Click the Full Text link to read the article. The articles also have photographs or illustrations. In the Related Information box, you can explore
other content through the “Build Background” and “Learn More” links. At the end of the article, take a short reading comprehension quiz. Then
click the “Comprehension Test Answers” link to see how you did!
ELL Reference Center’s Read Out Loud feature can read the article to you. Highlight the words you want to hear. Choose an accent and reading
speed by clicking the Settings icon in the Read Out Loud toolbar. Then click the Listen button. You can also Print, E-mail, Save, or Cite the
result by clicking the icons under the Tools menu on the right.
To start again, click the ELL product logo in the upper left corner of your screen.
Now let’s do a basic keyword search. Type a word in the search box and click Search to see a list of articles. Refine your results by Source
Type to find biographies, reference books, ELL articles, or articles by Reading Level. Click the Show More link to see a full list of options.
Click on a Full Text link to view the full text article, or click the title to view details about the article. Don’t have time to read it now? Sign In to
your personal account and click the Add to Folder link to save the article to your personal folder.
ELL Reference Center also has many tools to help you with your research, such as Research Guides and Student Worksheets.
These Research Guides will help you with the research process.
Click Help at the top right of the ELL Reference Center screen to view online Help information.