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How is the article structured?

Dr. Middleton’s article starts with reference for the article, title, author name, article, short bio on Dr. Middleton, and a list resources.

Beck and Fetherston’s article is the same as the above except it includes an abstract, a conclusion, has a headings system and does not contain any bios.

What is the author’s intent? Who is the audience?

Dr. Middleton’s article is intended to inform other professors and researchers about publishing their work in electronic journals. It cites advantages and challenges of the increasing movement from traditional to electronic journals.

The authors Beck and Fetherston report on how grade three students’ attitudes towards writing change as they incorporate a word processor to the writing process. They could be writing a paper for their own education degree which they’d share with other teachers.

What authority do the authors have to make their claims?

Dr. Middleton has a variety of research experience. He is the Associate Director for a research centre. This leads me to believe that his descriptions and predictions of the changes happening with journals are reliable. His article was published in a peer reviewed journal.

Beck and Fetherston did a literature review and have a large resource section which makes their writing seem well informed. It is unclear if their article was peer-reviewed. The Information Technology in Childhood Education Annual is a magazine and not a journal.

How would you characterize (label or describe) each article? Why (that is, what criteria did you use for your characterization)?

I would label Dr. Middleton’s article as a narrative because he is reflecting on what he has observed and experienced over time in his career.

Beck and Fetherston’s article combined a literature review and case studies including observations and interviews.

Which of these articles would you use in a review of research literature? Why?

I would use Dr. Middleton’s article in my review.

I would not use Beck and Fetherston’s article because their case studies do not seem reliable. For example, the teaching methods of the teacher in the study is what caused the students to not like writing with a pencil and paper. If they didn’t have to be extremely neat when writing, the students may have liked the process more. The word processor may not have improved their attitudes had the teaching strategy been different.

Apparently the students in this study had adequate keyboarding skills which didn’t take away form typing the stories. As a grade three teacher, my students would be very frustrated if I asked them to type out a story especially if they had to create it as they went along (without a first copy).

I think it is biased that the students had access to pictures on the word processor and not when using paper and pen to write their stories. Writing with pictures is always beneficial for sequencing and adding detail to writing.

Since the students were allowed to use the spell check feature in the software program, their conventions mark would be higher using the word processor.

It seems like the study should’ve compared the effects of using the software program, “Story

Book Weaver Deluxe (1994)” on writing instead of a word processor.

I thought the voice with which the authors wrote was too informal for the type of report they intended to write. I also thought the amount of quotations in their writing was distracting.