Competency 6b: Successive Fractions Search

Academic Search Complete
Successive Fractions Search: adding one facet at a time.

Topic: Using multicultural literature to teach reading in the elementary classroom.
S1(literacy or reading or reading methods) =164,340 hits
S2(elementary or primary classrooms)= 820 hits
S3(multicultural literature)=250 hits

Since my largest facet was (literacy or reading or reading methods) I started with this facet.

My next step was to start with S1 and add S2 . When adding these two together the number of hits was 7,449 results. This is much lower that the 164,340 hits but still I needed an additional fraction : multicultural literature.

At this point I added S3 to S1 and S2. This search yielded only 5 hits.
I felt that this set was too small. Dr. A. suggested that I use an additional term, multiculturalism, with my S3.

My last search looked like this:
S1: (literacy or reading or reading methods) and (elementary or primary classrooms) and (multicultural literature or multiculturalism).

This gave me 19 hits.
#18: Teaching multicultural literature in the reading curriculum. (AN 11080489)

#7: The potential of multicultural literature: changing understanding of self and others. (AN 9448315)


Reflection:
I feel that this search was very successful. I was frustrated when I only located 5 hits after adding S1 + S2 and S3. Instead of getting more relevant hits, it just narrowed me down to too few.
Adding an additional synonym, multiculturalism , in my s3 as Dr. Aikin suggested really helped. It is important to consider all synonyms-both general and specific in order to get a better list of hits.