Group items tagged

This article addresses men and women in political coverage and the media. When women make decision about who to vote for, they rely more on their close relatives and friends, while men rely more on the media and other coverage. Men, especially when younger pay more attention to the media and read the news paper for political information versus women. The researches conducts a survey in which it shows women are tended to be more democratic than men so this can affect the way they choose to vote. This article will be useful to my research because it shows how men and women use different forms of literacy to vote. This is an outside perspective and it allows a researcher to see the other side of the voting process. This article also proves the point women tend to be more democratic, which can mean if a women is running as a Republican, they are less likely to attract women voters.

This article tries to determine if Google Scholar meets the ACRL Information Literacy Standards, which is a measure of a sites ability to meet the informational needs of students and researchers. It discusses Google Scholars inability to create an advance search option that limits types of sources and sort hundreds of articles. The authors later go on to recommend different approaches to researching the same material. This article effectively discusses how Google works to meet researchers' needs as well as ACRL Information Literacy Standards.

This article from ERIC, the Education Resources Information Center, a great free database for anyone doing research related to education, discusses aliteracy among college students. The PDF format is available via the link at the top of the page. It would be beneficial for all students to check out because it is an example of a well-written, college-level research paper.

This article recounts a librarians experience during a blackout when students needed to perform research without power. It shows how dependent students are of the internet and have no idea how to use the library as a source. It shows how students depend on the internet and Google to do their research and have very little library knowledge.

Mandell and Lewis explain that young adults possess insufficient knowledge when it comes to the world of personal finance. This assertion is not new and many researchers have come to a similar conclusion, but the two authors believe young adults in other countries such as Japan and Australia lack financial literacy. Their study focused on whether teenagers lack of motivation inhibited their assimilation of information during finance classes. the researchers believe teens just don't believe financial literacy is important. Their study included five national surveys, with results broken down by different demographics such as sex, race and family income.

This study can be beneficial to my research. One of the purposes of this study was to examine the preferences of college students when given crackers with 2 different kinds of cream cheese, being high-fat and low-fat, spread on it. The results were not shocking, as students favored the taste of the high-fat cream cheese over the low-fat cream cheese. I could use these findings to support my research in that taste plays an important factor in food selection.

I found this study to be extremely valuable to my research. This study examined the effects of high or low stress levels on men and women in their choice of healthy or unhealthy snacking. Results showed that stress levels do, in fact, effect human decision of food choice. Stressful men chose healthier snacks than when they were not stressed, but conversely, stressful women chose unhealthier snacks than when they were not stressed. This factor is extremely beneficial to my research as it may provide an explanation as to why humans make the food choices they do.

This research was conducted between 12 young obese male students. A series of mental tests as well as a physical abilities test was administered and results were compared to those of healthy-weighted boys of the same age. Results showed no difference between mental tests of obese and normal boys, however the Wisconsin card sorting test demonstrated that obese boys had more difficulty as the test involved continuous shifting of the body. I do not find this study beneficial to my research. It provides factual information, but I feel that it could only serve to demonstrate how obesity can cause negative effects within young children.

Kwate's research primarily served to analyze the density of fast-food restaurants in New York City with a focus on the correlations of race and economic status or income on restaurant density. This research is especially beneficial to me because the data from this source is from the perspective of a United States major city. Results from this study showed that there were more restaurants in black areas than there were in white areas. Also economic status or income of the population did not seem to have a correlation with fast-food restaurant density.

Pearce conducted research throughout the country of New Zealand. The purpose was to study the relationships between how easily accessible fast-food restaurants are to the consumer and the effects of having a proper recommended nutritional diet. Surprisingly, this study suggested that neighborhood access to fast-food restaurants is not a likely factor in unhealthy diets. I may not use this study in my research paper, as I feel that it does not provide conclusive "either or" results.

Morland's research was conducted over a 6 month span in 2003. Telephone surveys were used to call random telephone numbers in the phonebook in the states of North Carolina and Mississippi. These telephone surveys asked the recipients for their address, gender, height and body weight. The height and body weight was used to calculate for obesity. This study is especially useful to my research because it analyzes the addresses of the survey recipients and compares them to the concentration of fast food restaurants in that area. The important information I could use is that the more concentrated the fast food restaurants were, the more obesity was found within that area.

The author discuses how students researches have begun to diverge from the library for quite some time now and Google Scholar is just more evidence of this. He describes how the lack of student tendency to use the library has struck fear into both university faculty and librarians. He then discusses a number of different approaches that colleges and universities are taking. Some have a strict no Google Scholar, others do not dismiss or endorse it, posting agendas that point users towards the library, and some accept Google Scholar as good enough for student use. This article describes what researchers desire and the ability of Google Scholar to provide this information.

Literacy is a continuous, multidimensional indicator of proficiency in using written language. This essay reviews several recent books on literacy, and suggests some profound theoretical issues about consumer behavior inspired by a sociocultural perspective on literacy. In particular, ties between literacy and six diverse research programs on consumer behavior are highlighted: responses to persuasion; affect and decision making; the meanings of products and brands; social marketing of health behaviors; consumption, identity, and resistance; and the impact of the internet on consumer behavior. In addition, questions both interesting and troubling about the impact of consumption on literacy are raised in the hope of encouraging future research. (Abstract taken from JSTOR.)

The teaching of such a controversial social issue as evolution in the classroom presents difficulties to instructors, both on personal and professional levels. Griffith and Brem examined fifteen Arizona biology teachers, pulling their experiences from focus groups, interviews, and surveys. The study contains a great deal of anecdotal information dealing with both internal and external influences on instructors' teaching methods. This research investigates a whole new realm of the issue as it pertains to literacy by looking directly at those who control the flow of information and those who influence it. However, the researchers make little conclusive headway, suggesting simply that instructors should be made more comfortable with the topic by having access to better information and resources. Ultimately, the personal experiences are telling of the political climate and social stressors.

Milosovic talks about research shows that scripted curricula set by the No Child Left Behind Act fails to meet the desired goal of increased literacy. She particularly mentions the negative aspects of the law which include, the time it requires, lack of individual attention on students, and the lack of focus on reading comprehension. Her research covers many cities and states and much can be learned from her article.

The authors share the difference of how the education gap between minority and low-income students compares to the fortunate white students. These low-income students are usually seen in urban schools that are at a disadvantage because of their label as a "failing school". The authors conduct a chart that shows the number of free or reduced lunches, percent of minority students, the student teacher ratio and the percent of poverty rate of failing schools, choice schools and the mean difference in schools in North Carolina. The rates in failing schools were substantially higher than the ones in choice schools. This process was only conducted in North Carolina, but it would be very similar for all states.

The authors research the effects of public school choice in the state of South Carolina under the No Child Left Behind Act. It has been found that public schools are labeled "in need of improvement" if there is a large minority of students and a large amount of poverty independent of rural, suburban, or urban location. The article touches on all the spatial aspects of the academic achievement gap between public schools and how rural failing schools are the most disadvantaged. The research in the article is useful but it is limited to the state of South Carolina.

A useful wiki that allows you to find resources to do research online.

The National Institute for Literacy serves as a national resource for adult education and literacy programs, coordinates literacy services and policy, and provides leadership for literacy in the United States. The Institute disseminates information on scientifically based reading research pertaining to children, youth, and adults as well as information about development and implementation of classroom reading programs based on the research. A great resource for articles and statistics.

A film on OhioLINK. Researchers debate whether differences in the brain architecture lead to a division of talents and aptitudes between the sexes. A bit dated, but could be helpful for those researching gender and literacy.\n

This article explores how genetics makes differences in learning for children. It researches two children and based on these results it makes assumptions about genetic roles playing apart in learning. It goes on to say the results of their findings and what they have learned and infered as a result. It is helpful if you are researching the effects of genetics on literacy or effects of literact learning rates in children.