Because your project should reflect current theories and best practices in the field of literacy, you will need to start by doing a review of the literature. In other words, you want to find out: What does current research and theory say about your topic? To find out, you’ll need to find recent professional books and articles in academic journals about your topic (not the internet and not information from commercial products). HOW MANY? At least 10 – 15 articles.
Library research information
Did you know that you can access full-text academic journal articles from your computer by going through the MSU Waterfield Library website? Here’s how:
From CANVAS, click on Library Guides.
Choose Education – Elementary or Secondary.
This page gives you access to a number of useful things, including databases. Click on the “Finding articles” tab. Then click where it says “If you wish to see a list of all the journals at MSU,” to see a list of Databases. Education Source is a great place to start, but you can try others, too. Click on the database, then search for articles on your topic. Many of them will have a FULL TEXT icon, meaning you can print them out at your computer.
Outside of CANVAS, go to
https://libguides.murraystate.edu/az.php?s=28937
Also, check RacerTrac (the Waterfield library catalog) to find books on your subject. Waterfield has a really nice collection of recent books on literacy!!! You can also use interlibrary loan to get books from other universities. (Use World Cat to locate a book and order it from ILL.)
Major journals in literacy include Reading Research Quarterly, Journal of Literacy, The Reading Teacher, and Language Arts. Major publishers of books on literacy education include the International Literacy Association, Heinemann, and Stenhouse. These are the types of books and articles you should consult; you should NOT use online materials or materials from commercial sources.
