Library Instruction and Themed Composition Courses: An Investigation of Factors that Impact Student Learning

Many academic libraries partner with English composition in order to teach first year students skills related to academic research and writing. Due to the partnership between information literacy and first-year writing programs, it is important to evaluate how these programs can best support one another. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of two factors on student information literacy skill development: library instruction and section theme—defined here as class sections of the English 102 (ENG 102) program developed around a central topic selected by the instructor. A random sample of annotated bibliographies from 95 sections of ENG 102 were scored with two information literacy rubrics in order to find out if scores differed between sections based on the variables of library instruction and theme. The results of this study indicate that sections of the ENG 102 program that attended an information literacy instruction session scored significantly higher on the annotated bibliography assignment than sections that did not attend. We also found that themed sections of ENG 102 scored marginally higher on the annotated bibliography than non-themed sections of ENG 102. Implications for further research are discussed, including the potential impact of theme-based writing on information literacy learning

A survey of the use of educational and occupational information in intermediate and junior high schools in Virginia

Although there has been a fourfold increase in the number of guidance personnel in Virginia public schools in the past decade, and at the same time a growth in the number of intermediate and junior high schools in the state, during this period there has been no state-wide survey describing the guidance services, or any aspects thereof, in the intermediate and junior high schools of Virginia. An essential feature of the guidance services in Virginia schools at the intermediate and junior high school level is the provision for the wide exploration of educational and occupational opportunities as preparation for present and future decisions. This aspect of guidance in schools has become increasingly significant in view of the current focus on theories of vocational development and of the rapidly changing world of work. It was the purpose of this investigation (1) to determine the extent of involvement of school personnel and guidance committees in providing educational and occupational information for students in grades seven, eight, and nine in the intermediate and junior high schools in Virginia; (2) to report the practices followed and the sources of information used by these schools in presenting this information; (3) to determine the objectives of these schools in presenting this information; (4) to determine the criteria used by the schools to evaluate the educational and occupational information services,and to show the strengths and weaknesses of these services as reported by the guidance personnel of the schools; and (5) to describe specific plans for presenting educational and occupational information to students as reported by some intermediate and junior high schools

WORKING ALLIANCES: THE IMPLICATIONS OF PERSON-CENTERED THEORY FOR STUDENT-TEACHER RELATIONSHIPS AND LEARNING

In this dissertation project, I interview four therapists and four writing teachers to learn if there were any significant similarities in differences in their approaches to dyadic relationships with students and clients. By dyadic, I mean what happens between individuals in a 1-on-1 setting when subjectivities collide. I was guided in my investigation by the core concepts of person-centered theory, which have heavily influenced the work of clinical therapists for the past half-century or more. These concepts are congruence, or whether one’s behaviors and speech match what one is feeling; empathy, the process of entering and becoming familiar with another’s private, perceptual world; and positive regard, or demonstrating that one accepts and values others, including their feelings, opinions, and selves. I found that teachers and therapists both faced challenges in developing, managing, and repairing relationships, and espoused similar values about relating to others. However, therapists were able to draw on clinical theories and tools for relating for which no parallels exist in writing pedagogy. For example, in the many teaching manuals I surveyed, I found hardly any page space devoted to the challenge of teacher-student relationships. Results from my study include conceptualizations of how person-centered intellectual tools might be synthesized with current writing pedagogy both in theory and in training. Furthermore, I hope to draw more attention to the nuances of dyadic relationships, and the unfortunate scarcity of tools that writing pedagogy currently has for working in them

Outpatient Mental Health Care Services - A Minor\u27s Right

The 1979 Session of the General Assembly made important changes in Title 54 of the Code of Virginia pertaining to health care for minors. One of the principal changes involved the right of unemancipated minors to seek outpatient treatment for mental health problems without the consent of their parents. Additionally, lawmakers deleted the criminal sanctions imposed against medical practitioners who performed authorized abortions on consenting minors. This bill appears to bring into Virginia a partial realization of a child\u27s right to due process and equal protection under the law

A comparison of presettlement and modern forest composition along an elevation gradient in central New Hampshire

Tree species composition is influenced not only by edaphic and climatic factors but also by natural and human-caused disturbances. To understand interactions among these influences, we compared forest species composition data from the time of European settlement with modern data. We derived elevation data for 2529 trees mapped by early land surveys (1770–1850) across a 1000 m elevation gradient in central New Hampshire and compared these with modern data (2004–2009) from the Forest Inventory and Analysis program (123 plots containing 2126 trees) and from permanent plots representing case studies of different land-use histories. Spruce and beech are much less abundant today at all elevations than they were prior to settlement, while maples and birches have increased. Fir, hemlock, pines, and oaks have changed little in distribution, although pines and oaks increased in abundance somewhat. Land-use history (agriculture below 500 m and cutting of various intensities at all elevations) is likely the primary explanation for these shifts, although climate change is also an important factor for some. A clearer understanding of presettlement forest composition improves our ability to separate the relative importance of natural and human-driven influences on the species composition of today’s forests

Nonpoint Pollution Control in Virginia

Congress has established a national goal of clean water by 1983 and the elimination of all pollutant discharge into the navigable waterways by 1985. The nation has made great strides toward controlling and eliminating point source pollutants. There has been no corresponding progress in the area of nonpoint pollution control. Such pollution from agriculture, mining, silviculture, and urban runoff is causing lakes to die prematurely and is seriously affecting Virginia\u27s fishing industry. This comment will review the federal requirements for control of nonpoint source pollution, Virginia\u27s role in an implementation program, and, finally, some recom- mendations to aid Virginia in achieving the 1985 no pollution goal

Aortoduodenal fistula 5 years after endovascular abdominal aortic aneurysm repair with the Ancure stent graft

We report a case of aortoduodenal fistula 5 years after uncomplicated endovascular abdominal aortic aneurysm repair. The diagnosis was confirmed by abdominal computed tomography scan and esophagogastroduodenoscopy. The patient was successfully treated with primary duodenal repair, removal of the infected graft, in situ placement of a bifurcated graft, and omental interposition. Review of the literature identifies this as one of very few documented aortoduodenal fistulas after endovascular aneurysm repair. Fistulization occurred despite accurate stent graft placement without migration, endoleak, or aortic sac size enlargement on annual postoperative imaging studies

Health and unhealth: the condition of women in the fiction of Virginia Woolf, Dorothy Richardson and May Sinclair

This thesis analyses the relationships between women and unhealth in Virginia Woolf’s, Dorothy Richardson’s and May Sinclair’s early twentieth-century fiction, where unhealth is conceived as an umbrella term to accommodate the intersections of ‘physical’ and ‘mental’ disease, illness and sickness. Through a succession of close readings interlocked with critical approaches to life, work, care and medicine, it argues that these writers’ female characters become attached to unhealth, and that such recurring attachments affect the meaning of ‘woman’ more broadly. Drawing together scholarship in the medical humanities and disability studies to capture the contours of a pervasive socio-cultural construct brought to bear on these works, this thesis models an engagement with literary health that looks beyond perceived inherencies of biology or identity. Chapter 1 examines the motifs through which women’s domestic attachments to unhealth are figured in Woolf’s The Voyage Out (1915), Mrs Dalloway (1925) and Flush: A Biography (1933). Chapter 2 focuses on how similar attachments are made ordinary in Richardson’s Pilgrimage (1915–67), attending to domestic and professional arenas. Chapter 3 turns to the impacts of institutionalized medicine on the condition of women in Sinclair’s The Three Sisters (1914) and Life and Death of Harriett Frean (1922). This thesis finds that these writers do not understand women as ‘unhealthy’, but rather orchestrate a series of thematic, symbolic and structural bonds and commitments to produce a conceptual collocation between ‘woman’ and ‘unhealth’. An afterword underlines the significance of the thesis’s use of unhealth and its attendant reappraisal of the relationship between the medical humanities and disability studies