Examined criteria that college students (n=130) use to select employment referents. Content analysis of college students' rationales for selecting employment referents revealed that students valued familiarity with employment most when choosing referents, suggesting that their choices do not always match with what employers value in reference…

Analyzes the content of extension bulletins directed to farmers' wives and of their responses to it. Finds that the women generally accepted the recommendations of the "Cornell Reading-Course for Farmers' Wives" (offering an ideal vision of literacy tempered to suit women's life on farms) but valued reading mainly as a diversion from work. (RS)

Content analysis of 1,773 articles published in three journals specializing in gifted education from their first issues through 1989 revealed (1) the volume of articles on gifted education increased significantly; (2) there is a trend toward more female authorship; (3) the literature is dominated by university personnel; and (4) non-research-based…

PhD and EdD dissertations were compared for research design, statistics, target populations, significance of results, age of subjects, and other characteristics. Analysis of 1,007 PhD and 960 EdD dissertations found PhD dissertations had more multivariate statistics and wider generalizability. EdD dissertations were more prevalent in educational…

Discussion of recall and precision of index terms focuses on an information-theoretic measure of term specificity. Term weighting schemes are described, including the inverse document frequency (IDF) and signal-noise ratio (S/N) approaches; term weighting by specificity is explained; and the need for experiments with test document collections is…

Defends the importance for media study of a descriptive and evaluative scholarship grounded in old-humanist perspectives. Uses the television miniseries "Lonesome Dove" as a case study to argue that media texts, like literary works, can and should be evaluated according to the criteria of "formal mastery" and "intellectual coherence." (SR)

Discusses the typical form and content of 40 theoretical scientific papers chosen from the most-cited papers in the "Science Citation Index." Demonstrates that the form of these papers is similar to that of experimental and methods papers but that the content differs substantially. (HB)

Quantifies specific elements of technical writing style in five award winning technical manuals where combined averages for the style elements are calculated. Compares these results to common criteria of good technical writing. Claims that wide variations among these manuals show that defining "good" technical writing is difficult. (HB)

Examines 539 undergraduate course catalogs to determine the percentage of institutions offering courses in physiological psychology, biological psychology, both, or neither. Finds 64.1 percent of the institutions studied offered physiological psychology, and 11.3 percent offer biological psychology. Finds catalog descriptions reveal confusion over…

Identifies and analyzes messages related to food and eating behavior as presented on prime time television programing and commercials. Finds that food references occur an average of 4.8 times per 30 minutes and that over half of all food references were for low nutrient beverages and sweets, which is inconsistent with healthy dietary guidelines.…

Examines the cultural content of advertisements in two superficially similar countries (Great Britain and the United States). Finds U.S. advertising portraying characters in more "individualistic" stances, with social class differences more evident in British advertising. Maintains that advertising should adapt to individual cultural…

Analyzes Herbert C. Hoover's translation of the "De Re Metallica" in the context of the 1922 Mine Strikes. Claims Hoover's interest in Agricola's "intellectual achievements" may have been more than technical. Demonstrates how technical documents reflect political ideologies. (NH)

Discussion of the role of the information industry, particularly publishers, focuses on seven models that are used to illustrate problems in the industry. Rule structures are presented concerning content areas, the use of technology, information markets, research behavior, communications, governmental issues, and the law. (LRW)

Reports on a study that examined how death is presented in young children's literature. Death themes are classified as educationally and developmentally positive or negative presentations. A content analysis was conducted to create a profile of the typical children's book with death themes. (SM)

Reports citation patterns for "The Journal of Business Communication" for the years 1978 to 1992. Investigates authorship trends, trends in intellectual content, and trends in the relationship between the journal and other journals. (SR)