Specific Facet First

Topic: teachers collaborating with school librarians to use technology in the classroom

Database: Academic Search Complete

I chose technology collaboration as my most specific facet. When I searched using the Academic Search Complete database, technology collaboration brought up 92 results. This was manageable but needed to be narrowed down. When I refined my search, I chose to look for only articles printed between 2005-2008 and full text. Articles are the easiest type of document for me to read right now due to their length, and information on technology needs to be recent to make sure it is relevant. This gave me 31 hits to choose from.

The sixth hit looked like the best for my topic. The article not only offers ideas for literacy and technology collaboration, but it also tells of challenges faced when trying to use technology in the classroom.

Witte, Shelbie. 2007. "That's online writing, not boring school writing: Writing with blogs and the Talkback Project." Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy 51, no. 2 (Oct. 2007) p. 92-96.

Abstract: The author describes her research on literary and technology collaborations in U.S. schools, intended to develop the writing skills of students in a manner that is meaningful to them. She describes the Talkback Project, a two-way journal activity between preservice teachers and middle school students that she helped to develop in 2005. She describes the first attempt, in which the students' required readings were the topic of postings, and she explains the lessons learned. She explains how the project was adapted, describes the successful aspects, and explains how one administrator's concern over online safety temporarily stopped the project. She discusses the use of blogs to promote literacy and digital fluency and involve students in global citizenship.


Reflection: This search was not my favorite. Deciding on the specific facet was not difficult, but finding an article that met all the needs of the topic by searching using only one facet was. Exactly one article of 31 somewhat came close to being what I needed. If I ever use this search, it will probably turn into a building block search so more parts of my topic can be included. Chu’s observation that the “most specific facet first approach thus is not recommended for neophytes”(Chu 2007, 86) proved true for me.

Chu, Heting. 2007. Information Representation and Retrieval in the Digital Age. New
Jersey: Information Today, Inc.