Purpose: To propose improvements to the identification of authors' names in digital repositories. Design/methodology/approach: Analysis of current name authorities in digital resources, particularly in digital repositories, and analysis of some features of existing repository applications. Findings: This paper finds that the variations of authors'…

Recent work has taken different approaches in attempting to use linguistics to identify the authors of documents by the style of their writing. Traditionally, linguists have sought to identify similarities and differences in a host of features, including spelling, syntax, word usage and others, and to draw inferences regarding authorship based on…

After a successful career as a writer for adults, Pat Mora began creating books for children. Her first picture book, "Tomas and The Library Lady" (Knopf, 1997) is a tender story of a young migrant worker who unearths new worlds when he discovers the magic a public library holds. The text, cleverly interspersed with foreign words, became a…

Our criticism and evaluation of young adult literature is tempered not only by the scope of our knowledge of adolescent literature in general, but also by our notions of adolescence, itself. Adolescent literature that, in Michael Cart's terminology, "shatters the shibboleths" of adolescence and adolescent culture, has the potential to re-shape the…

The author shares the lessons she learned from the book, Good to Great. Author Jim Collins and his team of researchers had spent five years studying the characteristics of companies that had gone from good to great and compared these companies with organizations that had yet to make the leap. The concepts and strategies they developed were based…

Ralph A. Smith is known to most contributors because of his superb knowledge of the arts. But it should also be known that Ralph is one of the best "all round" intellectuals in this country, or anywhere else. After seeing Ralph at work as an editor, it became clear to this author that he had a view of things far greater than would ordinarily be…

This essay examines historical research in music education in connection with historiography and the writing of history, using the works of three exemplary writers recently reviewed in book-length studies. Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) representing classic, enlightenment philosophy as it pertains to historiography was primarily a philosopher who wrote…

The author of this article states that, as a fiction writer, he is reluctant to discuss process, yet, at war with a mystical stance about writing fiction, is the belief he imparts to his students that writing is a craft that can be taught, mastered, and understood. This article describes the seemingly subconscious approach to the writing of "The…

The Muskogee dialect letters provide one of the most interesting combinations of fictional viewpoints and political commentary in American Indian letters. This article features the life story of Thomas E. Moore. This article also presents the fictional literary works of Moore and compares his dialect writings to Alexander Posey. Moore is the most…

In the wake of criticism for not including more British writers in the 2005 nominations for the prestigious Gold Dagger Award for Best Crime Novel by the Crime Writers Association (CWA), the organization recruited a new sponsor, replaced the Gold Dagger with a richer prize, and restricted nominees to books written in English. As a consolation…

This article presents a profile of Newbery Award-winning author Karen Hesse, who is best known for her knack for recovering the little-known stories of the past and making them resonate once again in her books. As a meticulous researcher and lover of things from the past, some of Karen Hesse's most well-loved stories have tugged at her sleeve (and…

The authors describe their individual and collective experiences reconstructing their New Orleans-based university composition program in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. They emphasize how the concept of "floating foundations" helps account for changes in their students' interests, and they suggest that this idea is applicable to the…

Fourteen collections of children's reading materials were used to investigate the claim that collections of authentic texts with a common theme, or written by one author, afford readers with more repeated exposures to new words than unrelated materials. The collections, distinguished by relative thematic tightness, authorship (1 vs. 4 authors),…

In this questions and answer interview with Rachel Dickinson, author of "Great Pioneer Projects You Can Build Yourself", the writer discusses her interest in the American pioneer movement, her research, and her goals in introducing readers to the day-to-day life of an American pioneer. Dickinson's book offers a hands-on look at what life…

Teachers have the privilege and responsibility of helping children discover the joy of reading. This principle underlies the mission of The Children's Literature Assembly (CLA) of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE). Unfortunately, as teachers and librarians in this country face the demands of the "No Child Left Behind…