scholarly journals Supporting Today’s Students in the Library: Strategies for Retaining and Graduating International, Transfer, First-Generation, and Re-Entry Students. Ngoc-Yen Tran and Silke Higgins, eds. Chicago, IL: Association of College and Research Libraries, 2020. 275p. Paper.

2021 ◽  
Vol 82 (1) ◽  
pp. 135
Author(s):  
Ginger Williams
Keyword(s):  
Student Affairs ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
First Generation ◽  
Writing Centers ◽  
Academic Library ◽  
Esl Students ◽  
Vincent Tinto ◽  
Research Libraries ◽  
Student Comprehension ◽  
Literature Reviews

This collection brings together research from the library and student affairs fields to present a thorough look at methods for increasing student success among populations with distinct needs and characteristics: international, transfer, first-generation, and re-entry students, with international and first-generation populations receiving the most attention. It is a welcome addition to the academic library literature. The theories of well-established student affairs scholars, such as George Kuh and Vincent Tinto, are highlighted in many chapters’ literature reviews and appear in the bibliographies of nearly all chapters. Familiarity with this literature is key in engaging outside units within the academy and building the kinds of partnerships suggested by many authors in this work. Common themes include robust partnerships with academic writing centers, collaborating with graduate programs to increase ESL students’ research and writing skills, and deliberately structuring assignments to aid student comprehension and skill development.

Assessment committees: good practices from ARL libraries

2016 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 224-240 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle H. Brannen ◽  
Sojourna J. Cunningham ◽  
Regina Mays
Keyword(s):  
Academic Libraries ◽  
Academic Library ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Good Practices ◽  
Research Libraries ◽  
Association Of Research Libraries ◽  
Library Assessment ◽  
Current State ◽  
Survey Results ◽  
Assessment Activities

Purpose Assessment activities in academic libraries continue to grow as libraries explore assessment endeavors. Ranging from basic stats gathering and reporting to surveys, focus groups, and usability studies and beyond. Many practitioners are finding it necessary to create new processes and programs, with little guidance. The purpose of this paper is to paint a broad picture of assessment activities in Association of Research Libraries (ARL) university libraries with the goal of creating a resource for libraries developing or improving their assessment programs. Design/methodology/approach A survey was developed that asked questions about assessment personnel, activities, mission, and website. A total of 113 surveys were sent to academic library members of ARL. Survey results were analyzed to compile a list of recommended good practices for assessment and working with assessment committees in academic libraries. Findings The investigators had a response rate of 43 percent. The open-ended nature of the survey questions allowed for the respondents to specifically narrow down the problems and opportunities inherent in library assessment committees. Originality/value This study takes the temperature of the current state of assessment programs in ARL libraries, demonstrating the growth of assessment programs. It begins to document the practices of these libraries, particularly in regards to the sometimes informal and hard to track use of committees and other in-house collaborations, as a first step toward developing best practices for the field. The results illuminate productive areas for further study, including investigating how to measure a culture of assessment and maximizing impact of assessment information presented on assessment websites.

scholarly journals The Prevalence and Frequency of Authorial Identity among Undergraduate Students in Fiji

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (6) ◽  
pp. 136
Author(s):  
Jasbir Karneil Singh ◽  
Ben K. Daniel
Keyword(s):  
Academic Success ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
First Year ◽  
Esl Students ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Student Writers ◽  
Authorial Identity ◽  
National University ◽  
Authorial Voice

Expressing an authoritative voice is an essential part of academic writing at university. However, the performance of the authorial self in writing is complex yet fundamental to academic success as a large part of academic assessment involves writing to the academy. More specifically, the performance of the authorial self can be complex for English as a Second Language (ESL) student-writers. This research investigated the extent to which ESL first-year students at the Fiji National University perform their authorial voice using interactional metadiscourse in their academic writing. The study employed a quantitative analysis of corpus produced by 16 Fijian ESL undergraduate students enrolled in an EAP course. The research found that the ESL authorial voice was predominantly expressed through boosters and attitude markers, with relatively little usage of other interactional metadiscoursal elements such as hedges, engagement markers and self-mentions. Further, the research showed that this particular cohort expressed their authorial voice and identity through boosted arguments and avoiding language that directly mentions the authorial self. The study concludes that the ESL authorial self for this cohort manifests itself in a selected range of selected interactional metadiscoursal elements, requiring the need to raise the awareness of self-reflective expressions for ESL students. The study also encourages further exploration of ESL authorial identity construction in academic writing at undergraduate level and beyond.

A Comparative Analysis of Reporting Verbs Used in Literature Review Chapters of Bachelor’s and Master’s Theses of Chinese English Majors

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 320-332
Author(s):  
Shuangqing Wen ◽  
Issra Pramoolsook
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Crucial Aspect ◽  
Classification Framework ◽  
Literature Reviews ◽  
English Majors ◽  
Master's Thesis ◽  
Practical Implications

Reporting Verbs (RVs), a crucial aspect of citations in academic writing, are used to report the work of other researchers. A Literature Review Chapter, as a key part-genre of any thesis, or a bigger genre where it is embedded, is the main place that has the highest number of RVs. Accordingly, this study aimed to analyze and compare the use of RVs between 30 bachelor’s thesis (BT) Literature Review Chapters and 30 master’s thesis (MT) Literature Review Chapters of Chinese English majors in terms of denotation and evaluation of RVs based on Hyland’s (2002) classification framework. The findings reveal that the RVs used in the BT Literature Reviews were smaller in amount and narrower in range compared with those in the MT counterparts. Regarding the denotation of RVs, Discourse Act RVs were found to be the most predominant in the BT corpus, while Research Act RVs prevailed in the MT corpus. Cognition Act RVs were the least used in the two corpora. Regarding the evaluation of RVs, factive RVs were the most frequently used in the BT Literature Reviews, while non-factive RVs were the most prominent in the MT counterparts. However, negative RVswere infrequent in both corpora. This study would increase the thesis writers’ knowledge on the significance of RVs, raise their awareness of employing RVs, and help them use RVs appropriately and effectively in writing their thesis and other academic writings. This paper also provides practical implications for teaching RVs in preparing research dissertations.

Academic and Research Libraries' Portals

2021 ◽  
pp. 847-874
Author(s):  
Barbara Blummer ◽  
Jeffrey M. Kenton
Keyword(s):  
Academic Libraries ◽  
Academic Library ◽  
Research Libraries ◽  
Primary Focus ◽  
Assessment Strategies

This chapter presents a synthesis of the literature on academic library portals. Library portals remain a component of the modern academic library. Portal features differ, but typically contain a single authentication process and access to metadata as well as some services (Laouar, Hacken, & Miles, 2009). The authors examined 87 papers in their review. This examination revealed six themes including: developing library portals, utilizing assessment strategies, collaborating on portal projects, incorporating personalization and customization features, conducting environmental scans, and creating instructional portals. The authors assigned themes to the papers based on the primary focus of the material. The findings revealed various issues with the development of academic library portals. The content of academic library portals continues to evolve as their importance to the user increases. Ultimately, an examination of the literature illustrated academic libraries' efforts to remain relevant through the availability of new resources and services on their portals.

Creating a Support Structure for Academic Writing and Publication Support

2015 ◽  
pp. 21-37
Author(s):  
Tonette S. Rocco ◽  
Lori Ann Gionti ◽  
Cynthia M. Januszka ◽  
Sunny L. Munn ◽  
Joshua C. Collins
Keyword(s):  
Graduate Students ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Writing Center ◽  
Writing Centers ◽  
Scholarly Writing ◽  
Support Structure ◽  
Writing For Publication ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
The Way

Although research and writing for publication are seen as important responsibilities for most graduate students and faculty, many struggle to understand the process and how to succeed. Unfortunately, writing centers at most universities do not cater to these kinds of needs but rather to course-specific needs of undergraduate students. This chapter presents and explains the principles underlying Florida International University's establishment of The Office of Academic Writing and Publication Support, an office specifically designed to aid the scholarly writing efforts of graduate students and faculty. In doing so, this chapter aims to describe strategies and programs for the improvement of scholarly writing, provide insight into the kind of learning that can take place in a university writing center, and reflect on successes and missteps along the way. This chapter may be especially helpful to educators who seek to create similar offices or services at their own institutions.

Pascal's Wager and the Long Conversation: Preserving the Scholarly Record in the Academic Library

2016 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-72
Author(s):  
DOUGLAS M BLACK
Keyword(s):  
Academic Library ◽  
Human Experience ◽  
Information Resources ◽  
Information Production ◽  
Research Libraries ◽  
Pascal’S Wager ◽  
Thinking Differently

ABSTRACT This essay explores ubiquity and transience in information resources, raising questions about the nature of a work and how researchers and librarians may need to adjust our assumptions about the nature of the scholarly record. In the academic library, keeping up with the accelerating pace of information production and the development of formats has become extremely difficult. While one of the long-assumed functions of libraries is to preserve the human record, the task has reached impossible proportions. Our current environment challenges our basic notions of what constitutes the human record. As information online moves into formats less fixed but more accessible, along with the format shifts have come significant changes in ownership and access models, forcing us to reconsider how we interact with information. Today's information ubiquity helps us see that we have created far more material documenting human experience than libraries have ever captured and preserved, and we may not have been preserving the human record as comprehensively as we have believed. The concurrent transience of information—the increasing pace at which it is changing and even becoming deliberately changeable—points to the difficulty of continuing to believe that content is static and that preservation is what research libraries do. We may need to begin thinking differently about what constitutes the scholarly record and how we create, evaluate, and use it. We may need to begin accepting that our lives and their documentation are more transitory than we have ever wanted to think.

scholarly journals Program Evaluation for Internship/Residency Programs in Academic and Research Libraries

2001 ◽  
Vol 62 (4) ◽  
pp. 307-315 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie Brewer ◽  
Mark D. Winston
Keyword(s):  
Program Evaluation ◽  
Academic Libraries ◽  
Evaluation Model ◽  
Academic Library ◽  
Residency Programs ◽  
Research Libraries ◽  
Program Coordinators ◽  
Effective Program

Academic libraries are turning increasingly to internship/residency programs to enhance their recruitment efforts. Yet, little evaluative information is available to measure the effectiveness of these programs or to justify funding for them. This article outlines the necessary components of an evaluation model for internship/residency programs based on a survey of academic library deans/directors and program coordinators. The study identifies the key evaluation factors that library administrators consider most important for measuring internship/residency programs, as well as the frequency, format, and sources of input for effective program evaluation.

The tangled web

2005 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wendy Sutherland-Smith
Keyword(s):  
Academic Writing ◽  
Legal Theory ◽  
The Internet ◽  
First Year ◽  
Esl Students ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Esl Teachers ◽  
English As Second Language ◽  
Free Zone ◽  
Significant Difference

This study explores the notion of plagiarism and the Internet from 11 English as Second Language (ESL) teachers and 186 first-year ESL students at South-Coast University in Melbourne, Australia. Data collection was by a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews, and coded using SPSS and N*Vivo software to ascertain trends in response. The most significant difference in response related to the concept of the Internet as copyrightable space. ESL teachers in this study regarded cyberspace as a limitless environment for ‘cut and paste’ plagiarism in students’ academic writing, whereas ESL students considered the Internet a ‘free zone’ and not governed by legal proprietary rights. These conflicting views, it is suggested, relate to differing notions of authorship and attribution: the Romantic notion protected by legal theory and sanctions versus literary theory and techno-literacy notions of authorship. This research highlights the need to reformulate plagiarism policies in light of global and technological perspectives of authorship and attribution of text.

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