Hello and thank you for using the “Ask A Question” service.
You are seeking alternative search terms, methods, or database resources that can assist you in locating journal articles related to difficulties that children have learning to reading. If possible, we suggest that you visit the Vera Bracken Library in person, but we can try and help you fill in some blanks in the meantime. Admittedly, your home institution has a deeper resource well than our own, but we will try to answer your inquiry in a more universal context.
You have developed a good list of terms, but we might be able to broaden them further. Our initial keywords are: children, reading, and difficulties. For children, we can use terms and phrases such as: child*, kid*, adolescent*, youth*, juvenile*, etc. You could also try specifying specific age categories/groups as well (i.e., “age 5”, “6 years old”, “grade 1”, preschool, kindergarten, etc.).
You might notice the asterisk (*) symbol trailing some words (or incomplete words) in the previous paragraph. The * (and sometimes a question mark (?)) is often used in search truncation. The idea is to broaden your search as much as possible with this system. So when you enter:”child*”, the database will locate variations such as: child, children, child’s, childhood, childlike, etc. This could potentially save you a lot of time searching for variant terms.
Additionally, you could use a Boolean operator such as OR to locate terms that are alike. For example, you could enter: (child* OR kid* OR adolescent*) [between parenthesis] and most databases will be able to understand this search logic. Again, the idea is to make shorter work of all your search terms.
Phrase searching is also important; by encapsulating two or more words between quotation marks, most search engines (i.e., library catalogues, databases, and Web searches (e.g., Google, Yahoo, etc.)) will look for those word groupings. Some search engine (such as EBSCOhost databases) assume phrase searching if AND, OR, and NOT (Boolean Operators) are not used between words.
Additional terms that you can employ in place of reading are: read*, literacy, cognition, “cognitive development”, “mental development”, comprehen*, understand*, education*, etc. Terms that we can employ for difficulties include: disability*, problem*, hard, hardship*, hinder*, trouble*, etc. These terms could be used in a more general search. Also consider focusing your search on specific conditions such as: dyslexia, dyspraxia, dysgraphia, “auditory processing disorder”, etc.
Additional phrases and terms that you could use are: “learning disabilities”, “reading disability”, “language disorders”, “school children”, “short-term memory”, “literacy interventions”, “neurological disorders”, or “child development”.
It will be important to mix and match terms from each of the three categories. Start simple, using one word at a time. Add and substitute additional terms as desired. You will be sure to get more diverse results lists by doing so. If you want to focus on geographic locales, consider using terms such as: canada, alberta, united states, north america, etc. [NOTE: Capitalization of proper nouns is not necessary.]
Since you are familiar with EBSCO databases, we can offer the following suggestion to save you some time. Once you are in one of their databases, select the “Choose Databases” tab near the top of the page. Once you are in there, you can select whichever databases will best suit your particular search by selecting each database’s associated checkbox and clicking “Continue” (at the top and bottom of the list) to proceed. From the EBSCO resources available from the Vera Bracken Library (Medicine Hat College) we selected: Academic Search Complete (big brother of Academic Search Premier), ERIC, Child Development & Adolescent Studies, Humanities International Complete, and Psychology & Behavioral Sciences Collection – the U of L will naturally have more available. You will return to your search window, at which point we selected the “Advanced Search” tab near the top of the page.
In the “Advanced Search” window, we filled out the form as follows: SEARCH BOX 1: child*; SEARCH BOX 2: (literacy or read*); SEARCH BOX 3: difficult*; selected the “Scholarly (Peer Reviewed) Journals” checkboxes under each database’s heading (if available); select the “Also search for synonyms and plurals” checkbox (under the “Expand your search to:” heading near the bottom of the page; NOTE: the additional expanded search options). If you click the “Search” button, you should retrieve over 3,800 abstracts/citations. How relevant they are will vary, so select the “Relevance” option under the “Sort by:” drop-box at the top of the results list. Hopefully the more relevant articles will appear closer to the top.
View the articles and redo the search as desired. If you need the articles “here and now”, select the “Full Text” option at he initial search page. If you do this, you will not have to look any farther than the databases to locate articles. If you need articles ordered in, consider using your home library’s Interlibrary Loan Service (http://www.uleth.ca/lib/borrowing/display.asp?PageID=51). Medicine Hat College and the Medicine Hat Public Library also offer this service, but you might have to pay additional fees to retrieve this information. Medicine Hat College Library Services does have some advanced tools that you can take advantage of (which are not offered by the local public library) but you will have to be on campus to take advantage of them. Ask the Information Desk about the “Find It” service (“Find It” is analogous to the U of L’s “Find Full Text” icon link that you might see in some of their ESBSCO databases).
Additional databases that you use (other than those provided by EBSCO) include: CBCA Education & ProQuest Education Journals, Project MUSE, OmniFile Full Text, Mega Edition, Academic OneFile, and the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ). All of these are available in the Vera Bracken Library at Medicine Hat College.
There are probably some additional tips and tricks that we can offer, but this should be sufficient to get you started. Please consider visiting the Vera Bracken Library (http://www.mhc.ab.ca/library/) at the Medicine Hat College campus for additional assistance, or try these tips in available databases offered by the U of L. Many of the other major database vendors (Gale, ProQuest, and Wilson) offer excellent resources that offer similar functionality to EBSCO, even if they appear slightly different.
For future reference, please do not type your name in the “Ask A Question” box. This is to protect your privacy.
Thank you again for using the “Ask A Question” service. If you need more help, please use the service again or see the Information Desk in the Vera Bracken (Medicine Hat College) Library (Phone #: (403) 529-3867; Toll Free #: 1 (866) 282-8394 ext. 3867).
AAQ#: 31601
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