A study examined how statehouse reporters covering the 1982 session of the Indiana General Assembly used information sources. Specifically, it focused on reporter reliance on key senate leaders, on the visibility of those senators in published stories, and on the institutional images transmitted in stories in which those and other senators were…

A study was conducted to determine the images of the media held by members of a state legislature. Specifically, it examined the legislators' perceptions of differences in print and broadcast news media performance, and differences in coverage of the legislature in the home district and on a statewide level. Questionnaires containing demographic…

This report presents findings and recommendations from a 1-year study which identified corporate needs for resource information (particularly statistical information) and assessed the extent to which these needs are being met by various resource-information services, including those of the federal government. Chapter I discusses 11 types of…

Recent polls seem to indicate that many Americans rely on television as a credible and primary source of news. To test the accuracy of this news, a study examined three networks' newscasts of science news, the attitudes of the science sources toward reporting in their field, and the factors related to accuracy. The Vanderbilt News Archives Index…

Recent studies have revealed that a large percentage of the public believes that science is of great importance, but that the public's basic science knowledge is woefully lacking. These studies highlight a vexing problem: how can scientists, through the mass media, enlighten the tax-paying populace to their work, given that a sound foundation in…

The directory lists mutual support groups concerned with the medical and psychosocial impacts of genetic disorders and birth defects on affected individuals and families. Each organization included is dedicated to the ongoing emotional, practical, and financial needs of these populations. Entries are categorized by disorder, including: general,…

This directory lists addresses, phone numbers, and contact persons for over 450 national organizations with a maternal and child health focus. The directory is divided into two sections. The first lists national organizations by subject area. These organizations provide a variety of services and activities, such as publication of educational…

This directory lists more than 150 organizations, agencies institutions, and volunteer groups involved in developing teacher education curriculum, providing training, promoting professional advancement, instigating programs of innovative instruction and implementing educational policy for preservice and inservice training of teachers for…

The first of five volumes listing books and articles published on modern languages, literatures, folklore, and linguistics, this volume deals with British, American, Australian, English-Canadian, New Zealand, and English-Caribbean literatures. The arrangement of listings in this volume is based on a concept of national literatures that combines…

It is argued that learning from different sources greatly depends on the differential way in which these sources are perceived, for these perceptions determine to an important extent the mental effort expended in the learning process. Two ideas are discussed: (1) amount of mental effort investment (AIME), defined as the number of nonautomatic…

A study was conducted to clarify some of the ambiguous findings reported in the media dependency literature. Specifically, it sought to establish whether relationships between use of the media and surveillance gratifications obtained from that use were affected by an individual's medium of primary reliance or whether these relationships might be…

Although an important communication process, gossip rarely has been seriously studied. Distinct from rumor and self-disclosure, it can be defined as the communication process whereby information about another person's affairs or activities is disclosed and circulated in an exclusive manner in dyads. Some "functionalists" assert that…

This bibliometric study assesses literature sources of elementary and early childhood education documents by examining, over a 30-month period, documents entered into the Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) data base by the ERIC Clearinghouse on Elementary and Early Childhood Education. The document collection is sorted into three…

Developed to provide Washington State educators with information on the evaluation of computer software or courseware, this booklet includes brief sections on general criteria for evaluating instructional materials, general criteria for evaluating courseware, and special considerations in evaluating courseware. Such considerations include deciding…

One of a series on topics of concern to the U.S. media, this guide is intended to provide journalists with a critical analysis of U.S. media coverage of Africa. Section I provides an overview of the folklore about Africa and the nature and sources of stereotypes and misconceptions about Africa and the Western world. Findings and interpretations of…