I used Eric EBSCO HOST to find articles on reluctant readers in the elementary classroom with teachers as the target. I was amazed that the words I put in had an immediate hit entitled Teaching Struggling Readers: Articles from the “The Reading Teacher.” This was perfect for what I wanted to learn about.
Reflection: The only parameter I didn’t put in was the date. I’d like newer research to review. So I adjusted my search and put in the dates from 2000-2009 and came up with newer articles. I could narrow down my searches even further with these subjects suggested by the database. I was interested in all of the subjects so again, I got what I wanted using the Building Block format: Reading Comprehension, Teaching Methods , Word Recognition , Reading Difficulties , Vocabulary Development , Elementary Education This was a good way to search especially after put limits on the search.
S1= reluctant readers
S2= struggling and reader
S3= elementary and reader
S1 and s2 and s3 = 45 hits
The first hit gave me the information I needed and had only one record. I don’t know how that happened.
http://ezproxy.twu.edu:2055/hww/thesaurus/thesaurus.jhtml;hwwilsonid=Z3A0ZBZFIBXBXQA3DIMCFGGADUNGIIV0?prod=LIBFT
I used Library Lit & Inf. Full Text for browsing reluctant readers in the Thesaurus setting. My first hit came up with 172 records found for
Reflection: I had some suprising results using the Thesaurus section to browse rewarded me articles published sorted by relevance. I would have liked more information geared for elementary education since that is my focus. I started playing with the database. I went back and reset more limits that gave me more literature I wanted. Browsing can give you an overall picture of a subject but you really need to build in limits or qualifers in order to get more detailed information.
Competency #6 Database Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts
Citation Pearl: Using one good article to search for others.
Listed below is the strategy method I used
Begin with a known relevant article (the pearl). If a known relevant article isn't available, conduct a highprecision search limiting all terms to the title field.
Search the database for that article's record.
Review the descriptors (subject indexing) assigned to the record.
Conduct a new search using the relevant descriptors from the pearl.
Examine any new relevant records retrieved.
Review the descriptors assigned to the new records.
Conduct a new search using any additional relevant descriptors found in the new records.
Repeat the process (steps 5-7) with additional relevant records until enough relevant material has been retrieved.
I used the database Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts with Full Text to search for reluctant readers. 83 hits came up and I chose to use the following article to find a good book for reluctant readers. The article is very current with a May 2009 publishing date.
Search: How to motivate reluctant readersA. Search using a broad facet: motivate reluctant readersB. Narrow by adding second facet: elementary educationC. Narrow by adding third facet: encourageD. Combine with Boolean logic: (motivate reluctant readers) and (elementary education) and (encourage)Publication years 2000-2009
A. Broad facet hits: 42,903
B. Second facet: 313,621
I liked the first hit. The article is about encouraging teachers and libraries to attract reluctant students to read using graphic novels.
A Novel Approach: Using Graphic Novels to Attract ReluctantReaders and Promote Literacy.Full Text Available By: Crawford, Philip. Library Media Connection, Feb2004, Vol. 22 Issue 5, p26-28, 3p, 1 color; (AN 12028381)
