ALTERNATIVE SOLUTIONS TO TEXTBOOKS FOR COLLEGE READING AND WRITING CLASSES

Many college freshman composition and developmental reading professors use readers (e.g., short stories, fiction, and poetry) as their textbooks. Their students write about themes based on the short stories, poetry, and autobiographies. Although readers are commonly used because the readings may be easier to understand, they do not prepare them for writing assignments from many other fields of study (e.g., nursing, biology, and education) as well as using academic readings. The purpose of this presentation is to offer an alternative textbook from using readers to using library databases for college composition and developmental reading classes.
Library databases present different levels of real academic texts that students will find in their other classes. Databases (e.g., Opposing ViewPoints Resource Center, Lexis Nexis, and Mas Ultra) contain various types of texts that are suitable for all levels of college students. Using library databases as a textbook allows professors to choose readings from different genres that have real-world applications. They have access to the library databases 24/7 from anywhere the Internet can be accessed.
Besides the different levels of academic texts these databases provide, these students develop invaluable library skills that are necessary when they take other classes. They learn what the databases focus on. This way, they will be prepared to tackle research papers for their other classes. One way to help many students who struggle with this skill throughout their first four years of college is to have them work on this skill for a whole semester instead of two or three library classes per semester.
Participants will learn how to develop a curriculum and syllabus from the library databases. Tips on handing classes will also be discussed. The presenter will use his syllabi to demonstrate how library databases can be considered a textbook with readings.