FIANLE

Library 3: FINAL PROJECT
RESEARCH GUIDE FOR ADULT ILLITERACY TRENDS IN THE UNITED STATES
Research Guide for Adult Illiteracy trends in Adult Americans

A. Overview
Adult Illiteracy trends in America is the topic chosen for this research guide. The main focus of this topic is to understand illiteracy in America, by reviewing our education system. Some questions to be answered are; why are there adult Americans with high school diplomas who don’t know how to read or write? What types of careers are available for illiterate adults? Are there programs out there to assist illiterate persons to help advance their education and careers?
One weak aspects of this topic is that there are other possible links to education levels of illiterate adults. For instance, pinpointing when or where the U.S. education system failed all illiterate Americans varies on an individual basis. It could be at the elementary school level or for some at a junior high school level or even high school. Also, other determining factors may contribute to the illiterate American. Some individuals had to work while attending school, thus making their education less of a priority. They could have come from broken homes or just from a family where English was not their primary spoken language.
There are a number of strong areas with this topic. There are a lot of research providing evidence that our educational system is lacking, causing illiteracy to go up in the United States. In fact, the federal government proved this itself by enacting the "No Child Left Behind" Act in order to try to save the entire educational system. Their passing of this legislation proves that our educational system has failed Americans and needed to be improved. Whether this was the correct answer or not has yet to be determined, but this proves that since illiteracy is so prevalent, it is caused by our educational system.

B. Library of Congress Subject Headings
Illiteracy
USE Illiteracy
Illiterate (May Subd Geog)

UF Illiterates
Illiterati

BT Persons
NT Church work with illiterate persons
Libraries and illiterate persons
Nonprofit organizations – services to illiterate persons

C. Keywords
Below are five keywords that can be used when searching library catalogs, reference sources, or online databases
Illiteracy AND American adults
Adults AND Illiteracy
Illiteracy AND Adult education
Illiteracy AND Adult literacy
Illiteracy AND Education

Some Boolean search strategies that may be helpful include:

Using "and". For example, since the topic is adult illiteracy, a good use of "and", would be to include it in the search (i.e."adults and illiteracy"). This will find all words in the search, however, they may appear in different parts of the article and in any order, though this will still narrow the search.

Using "or". "Or", will find either term and perhaps both. (For example, "adults or illiteracy"). In this case, this will broaden the search.
Using "not". "Not", will exclude a certain concept. For example, the statement "american illiteracy not children" will exclude articles containing the word "children" and make the search narrower and more focused.

D. Reference Sources
Below is a list of a few different sources that provide general descriptions regarding the topic at hand.
Hint: utilize subject specific dictionaries, encyclopedias in your library reference section.

Write a sentence describing each resource and how it relates to your topic.

The following encyclopedia is an item that is two volumes in length. There were three portions in the encyclopedia that was valuable information regarding adult literacy, including the history of illiteracy:

Barbara J. Guzzetti , eds. Literacy in America: an encyclopedia of history, theory, and practice. ABC-CLIO , 2002.

The below reference is a guide for available literacy programs in the U.S.

Machin, Stephen and Sandra McNally. The English experiment: an hour a day keeps illiteracy at bay.(national literacy programs of Britain and United States). Education Next 5.3 (Summer 2005).

The following reference source adress the "why" of illitearcy from a perpective of post World War II and onward.

The Challenge of Illiteracy: From Reflection to Action (Garland Reference Library of Social Science). Routledge; 1 edition (October 1, 1994)

E. Print Books
There a few good printed resources available on the topic of illiteracy trends with adult Americans. Below is a list of useful print resources:

The below resource is a personal approach to the topic of adult illiteracy. As stated in the title, the below book is a book that deals with the coping skills of having an adult in the same household, or parent, and how it affects the children of such circumstances.

• Rue, Nancy. Coping with an illiterate parent. New York: Rosen Pub. Group, 1990.

The two resources to follow are helpful tools in assessing adult illiteracy and also proved statistics from real case studies. Both sources are from literacy associations location in Illinois.

• GraceAnne A. Decandido, eds. Literacy & Libraries: learning from case studies/. Chicago: Office for Literacy and Outreach Services, American Library Association, 2001.
• Knell, Suzanne, Socgins Janet. Adult literacy assessment tool kit /; Illinois Literacy Resource Development Center, 2000.

The below listed book is a good source of information that deals with the politics of literacy in America. This books helps illustrate the problems as nation the United States facing when some of our own fall behind the learning curve.

• Demetrion, George. Conflicting Paradigms in Adult Literacy Education : In Quest of a U.S. Democratic Politics of Literacy. Mahwah, N.J Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., 2005.

F. Periodicals

Below is an editorial that was published in popular magazine, the New York Times. The target audience for this article is subscribers of this popular magazine or readers intereseted in the topics posted in this particular issue.

"Illiterate Americans." Editorial. New York Times 1993 New York Sep 14, 1993: (Late Edition (East Coast)): A.24.

To follow is an article published in a scholary journal which has been reviewed by the writers peers. This article is a clinical approach, again, to the why, of the illiteracy topic.

"Degree of Illiteracy and Phonological and Metaphonological Skills in Unschooled Adults". Loureiro, Clara de Santos; Willadino Braga, Lucia; Souza, Ligia do Nascimento; Filho, Gilberto Nunes; Queiroz, Elizabeth; Dellatolas, Georges. Brain and Language, v89 n3 p499-502 Jun 2004.

Just for extra bits of knowledge, Infoweb/Newsbank holds a wealth of articles relating to literacy. Some article listed below are from differenct city's throughout the U.S. It is interestign to know that different states have similar battles as well as advocates regarding illiteracy.

Janette Rose. "Low literacy rates affect everyone in the county." Muskogee Daily Phoenix and Times-Democrat (OK) July 28, 2008, Features: NewsBank America's Newspapers. [School or Library name, City, State]. July 31, 2008. http://infoweb.newsbank.com/.

"'I'm not stupid. I just can't read.' - Adult illiteracy explored in Ashe Cultural Arts Center play." Times-Picayune, The (New Orleans, LA) July 23, 2008, LIVING: 01. NewsBank America's Newspapers. [School or Library name, City, State]. July 31, 2008. http://infoweb.newsbank.com/.

"Redouble effort now to counter illiteracy in U.S.." Daily Review, The & Sunday Review (Towanda, PA) July 5, 2008, Editorial: NewsBank America's Newspapers. [School or Library name, City, State]. July 31, 2008. http://infoweb.newsbank.com/.

G. Website Resources

The below listed website resources provide great information regarding adult illiteracy in America. The is envaluable information available form CQ researcher online. Topics available via CQ researcher are widely arrayed.

This website sources to follow were located via CQ Researcher online.

Clemmitt, Marcia. "Reading Crisis?" CQ Researcher 18.8 (2008): 169-192. <http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/cqresrre2008022200>.

Jost, Kenneth. "Testing in Schools." CQ Researcher 11.15 (2001): 321-344. CQ Researcher Online. <http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/cqresrre2001042000>.

One additioanl website to help aide in the understanding of the adult illiteracy topic is the organization: National Institute for Literacy (http://www.nifl.gov/).