basic literacy essay

How to Write a Literacy Narrative Essay | Guide & Examples

22 December 2023

last updated

Mastering an art of writing requires students to have a guideline of how to write a good literacy narrative essay, emphasizing the details they should consider. This article begins by defining this type of academic document, its distinctive features, and its unique structure. Moreover, the guideline teaches students how to choose some topics and provides a sample outline and an example of a literacy narrative essay. Other crucial information is the technical details writers should focus on when writing a document, 10 things to do and not to do, and essential tips for producing a high-standard text. Therefore, reading this guideline benefits students and others because one gains critical insights that help to start writing a literacy narrative essay and want to meet a scholarly standard.

General Aspects of How to Write an Outstanding Literacy Narrative Essay

Learning how to write many types of essays should be a priority for any student hoping to be intellectually sharp. Besides being an exercise for academic assessment, writing is a platform for developing mental faculties, including intellect, memory, imagination, reason, and intuition. This guideline of how to write a literacy narrative, and this type of essay requires students to tell their story through the text. It defines a literacy narrative, distinctive text features, unique structure, possible topics students can choose from, and the technicality of writing this kind of text. There is also a sample outline and an example of a good literacy narrative essay. Hence, this guideline gives students critical insights for writing a high-standard literacy narrative essay.

Definition of What Is a Literacy Narrative Essay and Its Meaning

A literacy narrative is an essay that tells the writer’s personal story. It differs from other types of papers , including an argumentative essay , an analytical essay , a cause and effect essay , a report , or a research paper . While these other texts require students to borrow information from different sources to strengthen a thesis statement and back up claims, a literacy narrative means that students narrate an experience or event that has impacted them significantly. In other words, writers focus on one or several aspects of their lives and construct a story through the text. Therefore, when writing a literacy narrative essay, students should examine and reexamine their life course to identify experiences, events, or issues that stand out because they were pleasant or unpleasant. After identifying a memorable aspect of their life, students should use their accumulated knowledge to construct a narrative through speaking, reading, or writing.

Distinctive Features of a Literacy Narrative Essay

Every type of scholarly text has distinctive features that differentiate it from others. While some features may be standard among academic papers, most are not. Therefore, when writing a literacy narrative essay, students must first familiarize themselves with the features that make this kind of document distinct from others, like reports and research papers. With such knowledge, writers can know when to use an element when telling their personal stories through writing. Some distinctive features of a literacy narrative essay include a personal tone, a private tale, descriptive language, show-not-tell, active voice, similes and metaphors, and dialogue .

💠 Personal Tone

A personal tone is a quality that makes a narrative personal, meaning it is the writer telling the story. In this respect, students should use the first-person language, such as ‘I’ and ‘we,’ throughout the story. Using these terms makes the audience realize that the story is about the writer and those close to them, such as family, peers, and colleagues. The value of using a personal tone in writing a literacy narrative essay is that it reinforces the story’s theme, such as celebration or tragedy. In essence, people hearing, listening, or reading the story can appreciate its direct effect on the reader, speaker, or writer.

💠 Private Story

The essence of a literacy narrative essay is to tell a personal story. In this respect, telling people about a private experience, event, or issue gives this kind of text a narrative identity. Although the story people tell need not be about them, they must have been witnesses. For example, one can write a literacy narrative essay about their worst experience after joining college. Such a narrative should tell a private story involving the writer directly. Alternatively, people can write a literacy narrative essay about the day they witnessed corruption in public office. Such a narrative should not necessarily focus on the writer but on corrupt individuals in public office. Therefore, a private story should have the writer as the central character or a witness to an event.

💠 Descriptive Language

Since a literacy narrative essay is about a personal, private story that tells the writer’s experience, it is critical to provide details that help the audience to identify with the experience. Individuals can only do this activity by using descriptive language in their stories because the audience uses the information to imagine what they hear or read. An example of descriptive language is where, instead of writing, “I passed my aunt by the roadside as I headed home to inform others about the event,” one should write, “As I headed home to inform others about the happening, I came across my aunt standing on the roadside with a village elder in what seemed like a deep conversation about the event that had just transpired.” This latter statement is rich with information the audience can use to imagine the situation.

💠 Show-Not-Tell

A literacy narrative essay aims to help the audience to recreate the writer’s experience in their minds. As such, they focus less on telling the audience what happened and more on ‘showing’ them how events unfolded. A practical method for doing this activity is comprehensively narrating experiences and events. For example, authors should not just write about how an experience made them feel, but they should be thorough in their narration by telling how the feeling affected them, such as influencing them to do something. As a result, a literacy narrative essay allows writers to show the audience how past experiences, events, or situations affected them or influenced their worldviews.

💠 Active Voice

Academic writing conventions demand that students write non-scientific scholarly documents, including literacy narrative essays, in the active voice, meaning writing in a form where the subject of a sentence performs the action. Practically, it should follow the following format: subject + verb + object. For example, this arrangement makes the sentence easy to read but, most importantly, keeps meanings in sentences clear and avoids complicating sentences or making them too wordy. The opposite of the active voice is the passive voice, which is common in scientific papers. The following sentence exemplifies the active voice: “The young men helped the old lady climb the stairs.” A passive voice would read: “The old woman was helped by the young men to climb up the stairs.” As is evidence, the active voice is simple, straightforward, and short as opposed to the passive voice.

💠 Similes and Metaphors

Similes and metaphors are literary devices or figures of speech writers use to compare two things that are not alike in literacy narrative essays. The point of difference between these aspects is that similes compare two things by emphasizing one thing is like something else, while metaphors emphasize one thing is something else. Simply put, similes use the terms ‘is like’ or ‘is as…as’ to emphasize comparison between two things. A metaphor uses the word ‘is’ to highlight the comparison. Therefore, when writing a literary narrative essay, students should incorporate similes by saying, “Friendship is like a flowery garden,” meaning friendship is pleasant. An example of a metaphor one can use is the statement: “My uncle’s watch is a dinosaur,” meaning it is ancient, a relic.

Dialogue is communication between two or more people familiar with plays, films, or novels. The purpose of this kind of communication is to show the importance of an issue to different people. Generally, discussions are the most common platforms for dialogue because individuals can speak their minds and hear what others say about the same problem. Dialogue is a distinctive feature of a literacy narrative essay because it allows writers to show-not-tell. Authors can show readers how their interaction with someone moved from pleasant to unpleasant through dialogue. Consequently, dialogue can help readers to understand the writer’s attitudes, mindset, or state of mind during an event described in the text. As such, incorporating a dialogue in a literacy narrative essay makes the text personal to the writer and descriptive to the reader.

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Unique Structure of a Literacy Narrative Essay

Besides the distinctive features above, a literacy narrative is distinct from other types of scholarly documents because it has a unique essay structure . In academic writing, a text’s structure denotes essay outline that writers adopt to produce the work. For example, it is common knowledge that essays should have three sections: introduction, body, and conclusion . In the same way, literacy narratives, which also follow this outline, have a structure, which students should demonstrate in the body. The structure addresses a literacy issue, solution, lesson, and summary . This structure allows writers to produce a coherent paper that readers find to have a logical flow of ideas.

1️⃣ Literacy Issue

A literacy issue signifies a problem or struggles for the writer and is the personal or private issue that the narrative focuses on. Ideally, students use this issue to give the audience a sneak peek into their personalities and private life. Most literacy issues are personal experiences involving a problem or struggle and their effect on the writer and those close to them, like family members or friends. Therefore, when writing a literacy narrative essay, students should identify personal problems or struggles in their past and make them the paper’s focal subject.

2️⃣ Solution

The solution element in a literacy narrative essay describes how writers overcame their problems or managed personal struggles. Simply put, it is where authors tell and show readers how they solved the personal, private issue that is the paper’s subject. Such information is crucial to readers because they need to know what happened to the writer, who they see as the hero or protagonist of the story. For example, literacy narratives are informative because they show the audience how writers dealt with a problem or struggle and how they can use the same strategy to overcome their examples. From this perspective, students should write a literacy narrative essay to inform and empower readers through insights that are relevant and applicable to one’s life.

The lesson element is the message readers get from the writer’s narrative about a literacy issue and its solution. For example, students can talk about how lacking confidence affects their social life by undermining their ability to create and nurture friendships. This problem is personal and becomes a literacy issue. Then, they show readers how they dealt with the situation, such as reading books and articles on building personal confidence. Writers should use practical examples of how they solved their problems or struggles. Overall, including all the information about the unique situation or struggle and the solution helps readers to learn a lesson, what they take away after reading the text. As such, students should know that their literacy narrative essays must have a lesson for their readers.

4️⃣ Summary

The summary element briefly describes a personal experience and its effects. Every literacy narrative essay must summarize the writer’s experience to allow readers to judge, such as learning the value of something. When summarizing their personal story, such as an experience, students should understand that the summary must be brief but detailed enough to allow readers to put themselves in their place. In other words, the summary must be relevant to the reader and the broader society. The most crucial element in the summary is emphasizing the lesson from the personal issue by telling how the writer addressed the personal issue.

Examples of Famous Literacy Narrative Essays

Research is an essential activity that helps writers to find credible sources to support their work. When writing literacy narrative essays, students should adopt this approach to find famous literacy narratives and discover what makes them popular in the literary world. Students should focus on how writers adopt the unique structure described above. The list below highlights five popular literacy narratives because they are high-standard texts.

Learning to Read by Malcolm X

Malcolm X’s Learning to Read is a literacy narrative that describes his journey to enlightenment. The text reflects the unique structure of a literacy narrative because it communicates a personal issue, the solution to the problem, a lesson to the reader, and a summary of the writer’s experience. For example, the literacy issue is the writer’s hardships that inspired his journey to becoming a literate activist. After dropping from school at a young age, Malcolm X committed a crime that led to his imprisonment. The solution to his hardships was knowledge, and he immersed himself in education by reading in the prison library, gaining essential knowledge that helped him to confront his reality. The lesson is that education is transformative, and people can educate themselves from ignorance to enlightenment. The summary is that personal struggles are a ladder to more extraordinary life achievements.

Scars: A Life in Injuries by David Owen

David Owen’s Scars: A Life in Injuries is a literacy narrative that adopts the unique structure above. The literacy issue in the story is Owen’s scars, including over ten injuries and witnessing Duncan’s traumas. For example, the solution that the article proposes for dealing with personal scars is finding a purpose in each. The text describes how Owen saw each scar not as bad but as something that gave him a reason to live. The lesson is that scars are not just injuries but stories people can tell others to give hope and a reason for living. The summary is that life’s misfortunes should not be a reason to give up but a motivation to press on. It clarifies that, while misfortunes can lead to despair, one must be bold enough to see them as scars, not disabilities.

Notes of a Native Son by James Baldwin

James Baldwin’s Notes of a Native Son reflects the writer’s tense relationship with his father in the context of racial tension that gripped New York City in the mid-20th century. The story fits the unique structure of a literacy narrative. The personal issue in the text is the writer’s tense relationship with his father. The solution to this struggle is accepting life as it is and humans as they are, not struggling to change anyone or anything. For example, the lesson in the text is that the family can cause pain and anguish, and the best people can do is not to let others influence their feelings, attitude, behaviors, or motivations in life. The summary is that people’s struggles are a fire that sparks a revolution of ideas that uplift them and others in the broader society.

Dreams From My Father by Barack Obama

Barack Obama’s Dreams From My Father is the story of the writer’s search for his biracial identity that satisfies the unique structure of a literacy narrative. For example, the personal issue in the text is Obama’s desire to understand the forces that shaped him and his father’s legacy, which propelled him to travel to Kenya. The journey exposed him to brutal poverty and tribal conflict and a community with an enduring spirit. The solution to this personal struggle is becoming a community organizer in the tumultuous political and racial strife that birthed despair in the inner cities. The reader learns that community is valuable in healing wounds that can lead to distress. The summary is that family is crucial to one’s identity, and spending time to know one’s background is helpful for a purposeful and meaningful life.

A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway

Ernest Hemingway’s A Moveable Feast recalls the writer’s time in Paris during the 1920s. The personal issue in the text is dealing with a changing Paris. The solution to the writer’s struggle was to build a network of friends and use them as a study. For example, the text summarizes the writer’s story by discussing his relationships, including befriending Paul Cézanne, Ezra Pound, and F. Scott  Fitzgerald. He found some unpleasant and others very hedonistic. The reader learns from the text that friendships are vital in one’s professional journey because they provide insights into the attitudes that make up the human community. The summary is that one’s friendships are crucial in social and intellectual development, despite the weaknesses of some friends.

Topic Examples for Writing a Good Literacy Narrative Essay

Since students may get a chance to write a literacy narrative essay, they should learn how to choose good essay topics . Typically, students receive instructions specifying the topic, but, sometimes, such specifications may be lacking. In such an instance, one must know how to choose a good theme from lists of popular narrative essay topics or personal essay topics . For example, the best approach in selecting a subject is to read widely while noting valuable ideas. These aspects are a good starting point when deciding the subject of a literacy narrative essay. The following list provides easy topics for this kind of scholarly paper because they require students to tell a personal story, addressing the elements of the unique structure.

• Overcoming a Fear That Changed My Life
• A Memorable Day in Winter
• My Experience in an Adventure in Africa
• The Greatest Lessons in Friendship
• My Family Is My Anchor
• The Day I Will Never Forget
• My Life as a Community Advocate
• Delving Into the Enigma of Alternate Universes: A Hypothetical Journey

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Sample Outline Template for Writing a Literacy Narrative Essay

I. College Essay Introduction

• A hook : An exciting statement to grab the reader’s attention.
• Background of the topic.
• A thesis that states the topic’s significance to the writer and reader.

A. Literacy Issue:

• State the literacy issue that signifies a personal problem, struggle, or issue.

B. Solution

• Give some background information about the literacy issue.
• Describe the setting of the literacy issue.
• Mention some characters involved in solving the literacy issue.
• Give a short story about the literacy issue and its significance.

D. Summary:

• State the outcomes of the literacy issue through detailed language.

III. Conclusion Examples

• Restate the thesis.
• State the outcome and the lesson.

Example of a Literacy Narrative Essay

Topic: My Life as a Community Advocate

I. Example of an Introduction of a Literacy Narrative Essay

Community service is a noble idea that should form part of every person’s life mantra. The context of community is the myriad social issues that may undermine people’s quality of life without adequate interventions. My life as a community advocate is about how I have helped to address social issues without holding any public office, evidence that all one needs is love, concern, focus, and commitment.

II. Examples of Body Paragraphs of a Literacy Narrative Essay

A. literacy issue sample paragraph.

Community service is a noble duty every person should view as an intervention against social problems that potentially undermine the quality of life of vulnerable groups in society, such as children, persons living with disabilities, and senior citizens. Community advocacy is standing up for the community in critical forums where decision-makers gather. As such, my life as a community advocate involves attending community meetings, political gatherings, seminars, and any association that consists of an interaction between ordinary people and those in leadership. My goal in such meetings is to raise issues affecting vulnerable groups in my community, which need more attention from local, state, or national leadership.

B. Solution Sample Paragraph

My life as a community advocate happens in the community where I live and any place where leaders with the power to change the community’s political, economic, and social architecture gather. In this respect, people involved in my role as a community advocate include elected leaders at the local, state, and national levels and leaders of various groups, including senior citizens and persons with disabilities. I also interact with school administrators, social workers, and health professionals like psychologists. These people are valuable in providing insights into different groups’ challenges and what is missing to make their lives satisfactory, if not better. It is common knowledge that vulnerable groups are significantly disadvantaged across dimensions of life, including employment, healthcare, and leadership. Therefore, my life as a community advocate focuses on being a voice for these groups in forums where those with the potential to improve their experiences and outcomes are present.

C. Lesson Sample Paragraph

An event that makes me proud of being a community advocate is when I helped to create a school-based program for children from low-income households below the age of five in my county. The program’s objective was to feed children and provide essential amenities they lacked due to their parent’s or guardians’ economic circumstances. Over time, I have learned that several counties across the state have adopted the program and made the lives of vulnerable children promising.

D. Summary Sample Paragraph

I took part in activities and improved the quality of health support for children. I have learned from several clinicians and social workers that children in the program have shown improved scores in body immunity because of good nutrition. Such news makes me proud to be a community advocate and continue being a voice for the voiceless in a society where politicians have prioritized self-interests in local, state, and national leadership.

III. Example of a Conclusion of a Literacy Narrative Essay

My life as a community advocate has shown me that people can solve social problems without minding their position in the community. The only tools I have used are love, concern, focus, and commitment to make the lives of vulnerable groups satisfactory, if not better. Looking back, I feel proud knowing I have helped vulnerable children to experience a life they may have missed if no one showed love and care. My community advocacy is evidence that people can solve social problems by caring.

4 Easy Steps for Writing a Great Literacy Narrative Essay

Writing a literacy narrative essay is a technical exercise that involves several steps. Each step requires writers to demonstrate sufficient knowledge of how to write this type of scholarly document. In essence, the technical details of writing a good literacy narrative essay are the issues one must address in each step of writing: preparation, stage setup, writing a first draft, and wrap-up. Although not every detail applies in a literacy narrative, most do, and students must grasp all for an improved understanding of what writing a high-standard academic document means.

Step 1: Preparation

Preparation is the first step in starting a literacy narrative essay. One technical detail students should address is defining a specific topic. Typically, instructors choose the topic, but students can select one if such a specification is lacking. For example, the best way to choose a topic is research, where one searches for documents, including famous narratives, on the Internet, using online databases. The second technical detail is to generate ideas, which means reading reliable sources while making notes. In this task, one should consider the audience to determine whether to use simple or technical language.

Step 2: Stage Set Up

Setting the stage is the second step in writing a literacy narrative essay. The first technical detail one needs to address is to create a well-organized outline according to the one above. For example, this task helps writers to assess their ideas to see whether they are sufficient for each paper section. The second technical detail is gathering stories by recalling experiences and events significantly affecting one’s life. The last technical point is constructing a hook, a statement that will help the text to grab readers’ attention from the start.

Step 3: Writing a First Draft

Writing a first draft of a literacy narrative essay is the third step in this activity. The first technical detail students should address is creating a draft. This text is the first product of the writing process and helps writers to judge their work. For example, the main issue is whether they have used all the ideas to construct a compelling narrative. The answer will determine if they will add new ideas or delete some, meaning adding or deleting academic sources. Whatever the outcome, writers may have to alter clear outlines to fit all the ideas necessary to make papers compelling and high-standard.

Writing an Introduction for a Literacy Analysis Essay

Students should focus on three outcomes when writing a good introduction: a hook, context, and thesis. The hook is a statement that captures the reader’s attention. As such, one must use a quote, fact, or question that triggers the reader’s interest to want to read more. Context is telling readers why the topic is vital to write about. A thesis is a statement that summarizes the writer’s purpose for writing a literacy narrative essay.

Writing a Body for a Literacy Analysis Essay

Writing the body part of a literacy narrative essay requires addressing the essential elements of a unique structure. The first element is to state a personal issue and make it the center of the narrative. The best approach is to look into the past and identify an experience or event with a lasting impact. The second element is a solution to the problem or struggle resulting from the personal issue. Therefore, writers should identify personal problems that expose them to conflict with others or social structures and systems. The third element is a lesson, how the personal issue and the solution affect the writer and potentially the reader. The last element is a summary, where authors conclude by giving readers a life perspective relating to the personal story.

Writing a Conclusion for a Literacy Analysis Essay

When writing a conclusion part for a literacy narrative essay, students should summarize the story by reemphasizing the thesis, the personal issue, and the lesson learned. Ideally, the goal of this section is not to introduce new ideas but reinforce what the paper has said and use the main points to conclude the story. As such, writers should not leave readers with questions but give information that allows them to draw a good lesson from the text.

Step 4: Wrap Up

The last step in writing a literacy narrative essay is wrapping up a final draft. The first technical detail students should address is revising the sections without a logical order of ideas. Ideally, one should read and reread their work to ensure the sentences and paragraphs make logical sense. For example, this task should ensure all body paragraphs have a topic sentence , a concluding sentence, and a transition. The next technical detail is editing a final draft by adding or deleting words and fixing grammar and format errors. Lastly, writers should confirm that a literary narrative essay adopts a single formatting style from beginning to end. Content in literacy narratives includes block quotes and dialogue. Students should format them appropriately as follows:

• Block quotes: Select the text to quote, click “Layout” on the ribbon, set the left indent to 0.5cm, click the “Enter” key, then use the arrows in the indent size box to increase or decrease the indentation.
• Dialogue: Use quotation marks to start and end spoken dialogue and create a new paragraph for each speaker.

20 Tips for Writing a Literacy Narrative Essay

Writing a literacy narrative essay requires students to learn several tips. These elements include choosing topics that are meaningful to the writer, generating ideas from the selected themes and putting them in sentence form, creating a clear outline and populating it with the ideas, writing the first draft that reflects the unique structure (literacy issue, solution, lesson, and summary), reading and rereading the draft, revising and editing the draft to produce a high-quality literacy narrative essay, proofreading the document.

10 things to do when writing a literacy narrative essay include:

• developing a hook to grab the readers’ attention,
• writing in paragraphs ,
• using the correct grammar,
• incorporating verbs that trigger the reader’s interest,
• showing rather than telling by using descriptive language,
• incorporating a dialogue,
• varying sentence beginnings,
• following figurative speech,
• formatting correctly,
• rereading the text.

10 things not to do include:

• choosing an irrelevant topic that does not stir interest in the reader,
• presenting a long introduction,
• providing a thesis that does not emphasize a personal issue,
• writing paragraphs without topic sentences and transitions,
• ignoring the unique structure of a literacy narrative essay (literacy issue, solution, lesson, and summary),
• focusing on too many personal experiences or events,
• using several formatting styles,
• writing sentences without logical sense,
• finalizing a document with multiple grammatical and formatting mistakes,
• not concluding the narrative by reemphasizing the thesis and lesson learned.

Summing Up on How to Write a Perfect Literacy Narrative Essay

• For writing a good literacy narrative essay, think of a personal experience or an event with a lasting impact.
• Use descriptive language to narrate the experience or event.
• Identify a conflict in the experience or event.
• State how the conflict shaped your perspective.
• Provide a solution to the conflict.
• Mention the setting of the personal experience or event, including people or groups involved.
• State the significance of the experience or event to people and groups involved and the broader society.

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Chapter 1. What is Literacy? Multiple Perspectives on Literacy

Constance Beecher

“Once you learn to read, you will be forever free.” – Frederick Douglass

Download Tar Beach – Faith Ringgold Video Transcript [DOC]

Keywords: literacy, digital literacy, critical literacy, community-based literacies

Definitions of literacy from multiple perspectives

Literacy is the cornerstone of education by any definition. Literacy refers to the ability of people to read and write (UNESCO, 2017). Reading and writing in turn are about encoding and decoding information between written symbols and sound (Resnick, 1983; Tyner, 1998). More specifically, literacy is the ability to understand the relationship between sounds and written words such that one may read, say, and understand them (UNESCO, 2004; Vlieghe, 2015). About 67 percent of children nationwide, and more than 80 percent of those from families with low incomes, are not proficient readers by the end of third grade ( The Nation Assessment for Educational Progress; NAEP 2022 ).  Children who are not reading on grade level by third grade are 4 times more likely to drop out of school than their peers who are reading on grade level. A large body of research clearly demonstrates that Americans with fewer years of education have poorer health and shorter lives. In fact, since the 1990s, life expectancy has fallen for people without a high school education. Completing more years of education creates better access to health insurance, medical care, and the resources for living a healthier life (Saha, 2006). Americans with less education face higher rates of illness, higher rates of disability, and shorter life expectancies. In the U.S., 25-year-olds without a high school diploma can expect to die 9 years sooner than college graduates. For example, by 2011, the prevalence of diabetes had reached 15% for adults without a high -school education, compared with 7% for college graduates (Zimmerman et al., 2018).

Thus, literacy is a goal of utmost importance to society. But what does it mean to be literate, or to be able to read? What counts as literacy?

Learning Objectives

• Describe two or more definitions of literacy and the differences between them.
• Define digital and critical literacy.
• Distinguish between digital literacy, critical literacy, and community-based literacies.
• Explain multiple perspectives on literacy.

Here are some definitions to consider:

“Literacy is the ability to identify, understand, interpret, create, communicate, and compute, using printed and written materials associated with varying contexts. Literacy involves a continuum of learning in enabling individuals to achieve their goals, to develop their knowledge and potential, and to participate fully in their community and wider society.” – United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)

“The ability to understand, use, and respond appropriately to written texts.” – National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), citing the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC)

“An individual’s ability to read, write, and speak in English, compute, and solve problems, at levels of proficiency necessary to function on the job, in the family of the individual, and in society.” – Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), Section 203

“The ability to identify, understand, interpret, create, communicate, and compute, using printed and written materials associated with varying contexts. Literacy involves a continuum of learning in enabling individuals to achieve their goals, to develop their knowledge and potential, and to participate fully in their community and wider society.” – Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), as cited by the American Library Association’s Committee on Literacy

“Using printed and written information to function in society, to achieve one’s goals, and to develop one’s knowledge and potential.” – Kutner, Greenberg, Jin, Boyle, Hsu, & Dunleavy (2007). Literacy in Everyday Life: Results from the 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NCES 2007-480)

Which one of these above definitions resonates with you? Why?

New literacy practices as meaning-making practices

In the 21 st century, literacy increasingly includes understanding the roles of digital media and technology in literacy. In 1996, the New London Group coined the term “multiliteracies” or “new literacies” to describe a modern view of literacy that reflected multiple communication forms and contexts of cultural and linguistic diversity within a globalized society. They defined multiliteracies as a combination of multiple ways of communicating and making meaning, including such modes as visual, audio, spatial, behavioral, and gestural (New London Group, 1996). Most of the text’s students come across today are digital (like this textbook!). Instead of books and magazines, students are reading blogs and text messages.

For a short video on the importance of digital literacy, watch The New Media Literacies .

The National Council for Teachers of English (NCTE, 2019) makes it clear that our definitions of literacy must continue to evolve and grow ( NCTE definition of digital literacy ).

“Literacy has always been a collection of communicative and sociocultural practices shared among communities. As society and technology change, so does literacy. The world demands that a literate person possess and intentionally apply a wide range of skills, competencies, and dispositions. These literacies are interconnected, dynamic, and malleable. As in the past, they are inextricably linked with histories, narratives, life possibilities, and social trajectories of all individuals and groups. Active, successful participants in a global society must be able to:

• participate effectively and critically in a networked world.
• explore and engage critically and thoughtfully across a wide variety of inclusive texts and tools/modalities.
• consume, curate, and create actively across contexts.
• advocate for equitable access to and accessibility of texts, tools, and information.
• build and sustain intentional global and cross-cultural connections and relationships with others to pose and solve problems collaboratively and strengthen independent thought.
• promote culturally sustaining communication and recognize the bias and privilege present in the interactions.
• examine the rights, responsibilities, and ethical implications of the use and creation of information.
• determine how and to what extent texts and tools amplify one’s own and others’ narratives as well as counterproductive narratives.
• recognize and honor the multilingual literacy identities and culture experiences individuals bring to learning environments, and provide opportunities to promote, amplify, and encourage these variations of language (e.g., dialect, jargon, and register).”

In other words, literacy is not just the ability to read and write. It is also being able to effectively use digital technology to find and analyze information. Students who are digitally literate know how to do research, find reliable sources, and make judgments about what they read online and in print. Next, we will learn more about digital literacy.

• Malleable : can be changed.
• Culturally sustaining : the pedagogical preservation of the cultural and linguistic competence of young people pertaining to their communities of origin while simultaneously affording dominant-culture competence.
• Bias : a tendency to believe that some people, ideas, etc., are better than others, usually resulting in unfair treatment.
• Privilege : a right or benefit that is given to some people and not to others.
• Unproductive narrative : negative commonly held beliefs such as “all students from low-income backgrounds will struggle in school.” (Narratives are phrases or ideas that are repeated over and over and become “shared narratives.” You can spot them in common expressions and stories that almost everyone knows and holds as ingrained values or beliefs.)

Literacy in the digital age

The Iowa Core recognizes that today, literacy includes technology. The goal for students who graduate from the public education system in Iowa is:

“Each Iowa student will be empowered with the technological knowledge and skills to learn effectively and live productively. This vision, developed by the Iowa Core 21st Century Skills Committee, reflects the fact that Iowans in the 21st century live in a global environment marked by a high use of technology, giving citizens and workers the ability to collaborate and make individual contributions as never before. Iowa’s students live in a media-suffused environment, marked by access to an abundance of information and rapidly changing technological tools useful for critical thinking and problem-solving processes. Therefore, technological literacy supports preparation of students as global citizens capable of self-directed learning in preparation for an ever-changing world” (Iowa Core Standards 21 st Century Skills, n.d.).

NOTE: The essential concepts and skills of technology literacy are taken from the International Society for Technology in Education’s National Educational Technology Standards for Students: Grades K-2 | Technology Literacy Standards

Literacy in any context is defined as the ability “ to access, manage, integrate, evaluate, and create information in order to function in a knowledge society” (ICT Literacy Panel, 2002). “ When we teach only for facts (specifics)… rather than for how to go beyond facts, we teach students how to get out of date ” (Sternberg, 2008). This statement is particularly significant when applied to technology literacy. The Iowa essential concepts for technology literacy reflect broad, universal processes and skills.

Unlike the previous generations, learning in the digital age is marked using rapidly evolving technology, a deluge of information, and a highly networked global community (Dede, 2010). In such a dynamic environment, learners need skills beyond the basic cognitive ability to consume and process language. To understand the characteristics of the digital age, and what this means for how people learn in this new and changing landscape, one may turn to the evolving discussion of literacy or, as one might say now, of digital literacy. The history of literacy contextualizes digital literacy and illustrates changes in literacy over time. By looking at literacy as an evolving historical phenomenon, we can glean the fundamental characteristics of the digital age. These characteristics in turn illuminate the skills needed to take advantage of digital environments. The following discussion is an overview of digital literacy, its essential components, and why it is important for learning in the digital age.

Literacy is often considered a skill or competency. Children and adults alike can spend years developing the appropriate skills for encoding and decoding information. Over the course of thousands of years, literacy has become much more common and widespread, with a global literacy rate ranging from 81% to 90% depending on age and gender (UNESCO, 2016). From a time when literacy was the domain of an elite few, it has grown to include huge swaths of the global population. There are several reasons for this, not the least of which are some of the advantages the written word can provide. Kaestle (1985) tells us that “literacy makes it possible to preserve information as a snapshot in time, allows for recording, tracking and remembering information, and sharing information more easily across distances among others” (p. 16). In short, literacy led “to the replacement of myth by history and the replacement of magic by skepticism and science.”

If literacy involves the skills of reading and writing, digital literacy requires the ability to extend those skills to effectively take advantage of the digital world (American Library Association [ALA], 2013). More general definitions express digital literacy as the ability to read and understand information from digital sources as well as to create information in various digital formats (Bawden, 2008; Gilster, 1997; Tyner, 1998; UNESCO, 2004). Developing digital skills allows digital learners to manage a vast array of rapidly changing information and is key to both learning and working in the evolving digital landscape (Dede, 2010; Koltay, 2011; Mohammadyari & Singh, 2015). As such, it is important for people to develop certain competencies specifically for handling digital content.

ALA Digital Literacy Framework

To fully understand the many digital literacies, we will look at the American Library Association (ALA) framework. The ALA framework is laid out in terms of basic functions with enough specificity to make it easy to understand and remember but broad enough to cover a wide range of skills. The ALA framework includes the following areas:

• understanding,
• evaluating,
• creating, and
• communicating (American Library Association, 2013).

Finding information in a digital environment represents a significant departure from the way human beings have searched for information for centuries. The learner must abandon older linear or sequential approaches to finding information such as reading a book, using a card catalog, index, or table of contents, and instead use more horizontal approaches like natural language searches, hypermedia text, keywords, search engines, online databases and so on (Dede, 2010; Eshet, 2002). The shift involves developing the ability to create meaningful search limits (SCONUL, 2016). Previously, finding the information would have meant simply looking up page numbers based on an index or sorting through a card catalog. Although finding information may depend to some degree on the search tool being used (library, internet search engine, online database, etc.) the search results also depend on how well a person is able to generate appropriate keywords and construct useful Boolean searches. Failure in these two areas could easily return too many results to be helpful, vague, or generic results, or potentially no useful results at all (Hangen, 2015).

Part of the challenge of finding information is the ability to manage the results. Because there is so much data, changing so quickly, in so many different formats, it can be challenging to organize and store them in such a way as to be useful. SCONUL (2016) talks about this as the ability to organize, store, manage, and cite digital resources, while the Educational Testing Service also specifically mentions the skills of accessing and managing information. Some ways to accomplish these tasks is using social bookmarking tools such as Diigo, clipping and organizing software such as Evernote and OneNote, and bibliographic software. Many sites, such as YouTube, allow individuals with an account to bookmark videos, as well as create channels or collections of videos for specific topics or uses. Other websites have similar features.

Understanding

Understanding in the context of digital literacy perhaps most closely resembles traditional literacy because it is the ability to read and interpret text (Jones-Kavalier & Flannigan, 2006). In the digital age, however, the ability to read and understand extends much further than text alone. For example, searches may return results with any combination of text, video, sound, and audio, as well as still and moving pictures. As the internet has evolved, a whole host of visual languages have also evolved, such as moving images, emoticons, icons, data visualizations, videos, and combinations of all the above. Lankshear & Knoble (2008) refer to these modes of communication as “post typographic textual practice.” Understanding the variety of modes of digital material may also be referred to as multimedia literacy (Jones-Kavalier & Flannigan, 2006), visual literacy (Tyner, 1998), or digital literacy (Buckingham, 2006).

Evaluating digital media requires competencies ranging from assessing the importance of a piece of information to determining its accuracy and source. Evaluating information is not new to the digital age, but the nature of digital information can make it more difficult to understand who the source of information is and whether it can be trusted (Jenkins, 2018). When there are abundant and rapidly changing data across heavily populated networks, anyone with access can generate information online. This results in the learner needing to make decisions about its authenticity, trustworthiness, relevance, and significance. Learning evaluative digital skills means learning to ask questions about who is writing the information, why they are writing it, and who the intended audience is (Buckingham, 2006). Developing critical thinking skills is part of the literacy of evaluating and assessing the suitability for use of a specific piece of information (SCONUL, 2016).

Creating in the digital world makes the production of knowledge and ideas in digital formats explicit. While writing is a critical component of traditional literacy, it is not the only creative tool in the digital toolbox. Other tools are available and include creative activities such as podcasting, making audio-visual presentations, building data visualizations, 3D printing, and writing blogs. Tools that haven’t been thought of before are constantly appearing. In short, a digitally literate individual will want to be able to use all formats in which digital information may be conveyed in the creation of a product. A key component of creating with digital tools is understanding what constitutes fair use and what is considered plagiarism. While this is not new to the digital age, it may be more challenging these days to find the line between copying and extending someone else’s work.

In part, the reason for the increased difficulty in discerning between plagiarism and new work is the “cut and paste culture” of the Internet, referred to as “reproduction literacy” (Eshet 2002, p.4), or appropriation in Jenkins’ New Media Literacies (Jenkins, 2018). The question is, what kind and how much change is required to avoid the accusation of plagiarism? This skill requires the ability to think critically, evaluate a work, and make appropriate decisions. There are tools and information to help understand and find those answers, such as the Creative Commons. Learning about such resources and how to use them is part of digital literacy.

Communicating

Communicating is the final category of digital skills in the ALA digital framework. The capacity to connect with individuals all over the world creates unique opportunities for learning and sharing information, for which developing digital communication skills is vital. Some of the skills required for communicating in the digital environment include digital citizenship, collaboration, and cultural awareness. This is not to say that one does not need to develop communication skills outside of the digital environment, but that the skills required for digital communication go beyond what is required in a non-digital environment. Most of us are adept at personal, face- to-face communication, but digital communication needs the ability to engage in asynchronous environments such as email, online forums, blogs, social media, and learning platforms where what is written may not be deleted and may be misinterpreted. Add that to an environment where people number in the millions and the opportunities for misunderstanding and cultural miscues are likely.

The communication category of digital literacies covers an extensive array of skills above and beyond what one might need for face-to-face interactions. It is comprised of competencies around ethical and moral behavior, responsible communication for engagement in social and civic activities (Adam Becker et al., 2017), an awareness of audience, and an ability to evaluate the potential impact of one’s online actions. It also includes skills for handling privacy and security in online environments. These activities fall into two main categories: digital citizenship and collaboration.

Digital citizenship refers to one’s ability to interact effectively in the digital world. Part of this skill is good manners, often referred to as “netiquette.” There is a level of context which is often missing in digital communication due to physical distance, lack of personal familiarity with the people online, and the sheer volume of the people who may encounter our words. People who know us well may understand exactly what we mean when we say something sarcastic or ironic, but people online do not know us, and vocal and facial cues are missing in most digital communication, making it more likely we will be misunderstood. Furthermore, we are more likely to misunderstand or be misunderstood if we are unaware of cultural differences. So, digital citizenship includes an awareness of who we are, what we intend to say, and how it might be perceived by other people we do not know (Buckingham, 2006). It is also a process of learning to communicate clearly in ways that help others understand what we mean.

Another key digital skill is collaboration, and it is essential for effective participation in digital projects via the Internet. The Internet allows people to engage with others they may never see in person and work towards common goals, be they social, civic, or business oriented. Creating a community and working together requires a degree of trust and familiarity that can be difficult to build when there is physical distance between the participants. Greater effort must be made to be inclusive , and to overcome perceived or actual distance and disconnectedness. So, while the potential of digital technology for connecting people is impressive, it is not automatic or effortless, and it requires new skills.

Literacy narratives are stories about reading or composing a message in any form or context. They often include poignant memories that involve a personal experience with literacy. Digital literacy narratives can sometimes be categorized as ones that focus on how the writer came to understand the importance of technology in their life or pedagogy. More often, they are simply narratives that use a medium beyond the print-based essay to tell the story:

Create your own literacy narrative that tells of a significant experience you had with digital literacy. Use a multi-modal tool that includes audio and images or video. Share it with your classmates and discuss the most important ideas you notice in each other’s narratives.

Critical literacy

Literacy scholars recognize that although literacy is a cognitive skill, it is also a set of practices that communities and people participate in. Next, we turn to another perspective on literacy – critical literacy. “Critical” here is not meant as having a negative point of view, but rather using an analytic lens that detects power, privilege, and representation to understand different ways of looking at texts. For example, when groups or individuals stage a protest, do the media refer to them as “protesters” or “rioters?” What is the reason for choosing the label they do, and what are the consequences? 

Critical literacy does not have a set definition or typical history of use, but the following key tenets have been described in the literature, which will vary in their application based on the individual social context (Vasquez, 2019). Table 1 presents some key aspects of critical literacy, but this area of literacy research is growing and evolving rapidly, so this is not an exhaustive list.

An important component of critical literacy is the adoption of culturally responsive and sustaining pedagogy. One definition comes from Dr. Django Paris (2012), who stated that Culturally Responsive-Sustaining (CR-S) education recognizes that cultural differences (including racial, ethnic, linguistic, gender, sexuality, and ability ones) should be treated as assets for teaching and learning. Culturally sustaining pedagogy requires teachers to support multilingualism and multiculturalism in their practice. That is, culturally sustaining pedagogy seeks to perpetuate and foster—to sustain—linguistic, literary, and cultural pluralism as part of the democratic project of schooling.

For more, see the Culturally Responsive and Sustaining F ramework . The framework helps educators to think about how to create student-centered learning environments that uphold racial, linguistic, and cultural identities. It prepares students for rigorous independent learning, develops their abilities to connect across lines of difference, elevates historically marginalized voices, and empowers them as agents of social change. CR-S education explores the relationships between historical and contemporary conditions of inequality and the ideas that shape access, participation, and outcomes for learners.

• What can you do to learn more about your students’ cultures?
• How can you build and sustain relationships with your students?
• How do the instructional materials you use affirm your students’ identities?

Community-based literacies

You may have noticed that communities are a big part of critical literacy – we understand that our environment and culture impact what we read and how we understand the world. Now think about the possible differences among three Iowa communities: a neighborhood in the middle of Des Moines, the rural community of New Hartford, and Coralville, a suburb of Iowa City:

You may not have thought about how living in a certain community might contribute to or take away from a child’s ability to learn to read. Dr. Susan Neuman (2001) did. She and her team investigated the differences between two neighborhoods regarding how much access to books and other reading materials children in those neighborhoods had. One middle-to-upper class neighborhood in Philadelphia had large bookstores, toy stores with educational materials, and well-resourced libraries. The other, a low-income neighborhood, had no bookstores or toy stores. There was a library, but it had fewer resources and served a larger number of patrons. In fact, the team found that even the signs on the businesses were harder to read, and there was less environmental printed word. Their findings showed that each child in the middle-class neighborhood had 13 books on average, while in the lower-class neighborhood there was one book per 300 children .

Dr. Neuman and her team (2019) recently revisited this question. This time, they looked at low-income neighborhoods – those where 60% or more of the people are living in poverty . They compared these to borderline neighborhoods – those with 20-40% in poverty – in three cities, Washington, D.C., Detroit, and Los Angeles. Again, they found significantly fewer books in the very low-income areas. The chart represents the preschool books available for sale in each neighborhood. Note that in the lower-income neighborhood of Washington D.C., there were no books for young children to be found at all!

Now watch this video from Campaign for Grade Level Reading. Access to books is one way that children can have new experiences, but it is not the only way!

What is the “summer slide,” and how does it contribute to the differences in children’s reading abilities?

The importance of being literate and how to get there

“Literacy is a bridge from misery to hope” – Kofi Annan, former United Nations Secretary-General.

Our economy is enhanced when citizens have higher literacy levels. Effective literacy skills open the doors to more educational and employment opportunities so that people can lift themselves out of poverty and chronic underemployment. In our increasingly complex and rapidly changing technological world, it is essential that individuals continuously expand their knowledge and learn new skills to keep up with the pace of change. The goal of our public school system in the United States is to “ensure that all students graduate from high school with the skills and knowledge necessary to succeed in college, career, and life, regardless of where they live.” This is the basis of the Common Core Standards, developed by the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) and the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA Center). These groups felt that education was too inconsistent across the different states, and today’s students are preparing to enter a world in which colleges and businesses are demanding more than ever before. To ensure that all students are ready for success after high school, the Common Core State Standards established clear universal guidelines for what every student should know and be able to do in math and English language arts from kindergarten through 12th grade: “The Common Core State Standards do not tell teachers how to teach, but they do help teachers figure out the knowledge and skills their students should have” (Common Core State Standards Initiative, 2012).

Explore the Core!

Go to iowacore.gov and click on Literacy Standards. Spend some time looking at the K-3 standards. Notice how consistent they are across the grade levels. Each has specific requirements within the categories:

• Reading Standards for Literature
• Reading Standards for Informational Text
• Reading Standards for Foundational Skills
• Writing Standards
• Speaking and Listening Standards
• Language Standards

Download the Iowa Core K-12 Literacy Manual . You will use it as a reference when you are creating lessons.

Next, explore the Subject Area pages and resources. What tools does the state provide to teachers to support their use of the Core?

Describe a resource you found on the website. How will you use this when you are a teacher?

Watch this video about the Iowa Literacy Core Standards:

• Literacy is typically defined as the ability to ingest, understand, and communicate information.
• Literacy has multiple definitions, each with a different point of focus.
• “New literacies,” or multiliteracies, are a combination of multiple ways of communicating and making meaning, including visual, audio, spatial, behavioral, and gestural communication.
• As online communication has become more prevalent, digital literacy has become more important for learners to engage with the wealth of information available online.
• Critical literacy develops learners’ critical thinking by asking them to use an analytic lens that detects power, privilege, and representation to understand different ways of looking at information.
• The Common Core State Standards were established to set clear, universal guidelines for what every student should know after completing high school.

Resources for teacher educators

• Culturally Responsive-Sustaining Education Framework [PDF]
• Common Core State Standards
• Iowa Core Instructional Resources in Literacy

Gonzalez, N., Moll, L. C., & Amanti, C. (Eds.). (2006). Funds of knowledge: Theorizing practices in households, communities, and classrooms . New York, NY: Routledge.

Lau, S. M. C. (2012). Reconceptualizing critical literacy teaching in ESL classrooms. The Reading Teacher, 65 , 325–329.

Literacy. (2018, March 19). Retrieved March 2, 2020, from  https://en.unesco.org/themes/literacy

Neuman, S. B., & Celano, D. (2001). Access to print in low‐income and middle‐income communities: An ecological study of four neighborhoods. Reading Research Quarterly, 36 (1), 8-26.

Neuman, S. B., & Moland, N. (2019). Book deserts: The consequences of income segregation on children’s access to print.  Urban education, 54 (1), 126-147.

New London Group (1996). A Pedagogy of multiliteracies: Designing social futures.  Harvard Educational Review, 66 (1), 60-92.

O’Brien, J. (2001). Children reading critically: A local history. In B. Comber & A. Simpson (Eds.), Negotiating critical literacies in classrooms (pp. 41–60). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Ordoñez-Jasis, R., & Ortiz, R. W. (2006). Reading their worlds: Working with diverse families to enhance children’s early literacy development. Y C Young Children, 61 (1), 42.

Saha S. (2006). Improving literacy as a means to reducing health disparities. J Gen Intern Med. 21 (8):893-895. doi:10.1111/j.1525-1497.2006.00546.x

UNESCO. (2017). Literacy rates continue to rise from one generation to the next global literacy trends today. Retrieved from http://on.unesco.org/literacy-map.

Vasquez, V.M., Janks, H. & Comber, B. (2019). Critical Literacy as a Way of Being and Doing. Language Arts, 96 (5), 300-311.

Vlieghe, J. (2015). Traditional and digital literacy. The literacy hypothesis, technologies of reading and writing, and the ‘grammatized’ body. Ethics and Education, 10 (2), 209-226.

Zimmerman, E. B., Woolf, S. H., Blackburn, S. M., Kimmel, A. D., Barnes, A. J., & Bono, R. S. (2018). The case for considering education and health. Urban Education, 53 (6), 744-773.U.S. Department of Education. Institute of Education Sciences.

U.S. Department of Education. Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 2022 Reading Assessment.

Methods of Teaching Early Literacy Copyright © 2023 by Constance Beecher is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

What you need to know about literacy

What is the global situation in relation to literacy.

Great progress has been made in literacy with most recent data (UNESCO Institute for Statistics) showing that more than 86 per cent of the world’s population know how to read and write compared to 68 per cent in 1979. Despite this, worldwide at least 763 million adults still cannot read and write, two thirds of them women, and 250 million children are failing to acquire basic literacy skills. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused the worst disruption to education in a century, 617 million children and teenagers had not reached minimum reading levels.   

How does UNESCO define literacy?

Acquiring literacy is not a one-off act. Beyond its conventional concept as a set of reading, writing and counting skills, literacy is now understood as a means of identification, understanding, interpretation, creation, and communication in an increasingly digital, text-mediated, information-rich and fast-changing world. Literacy is a continuum of learning and proficiency in reading, writing and using numbers throughout life and is part of a larger set of skills, which include digital skills, media literacy, education for sustainable development and global citizenship as well as job-specific skills. Literacy skills themselves are expanding and evolving as people engage more and more with information and learning through digital technology.  

What are the effects of literacy?

Literacy empowers and liberates people. Beyond its importance as part of the right to education, literacy improves lives by expanding capabilities which in turn reduces poverty, increases participation in the labour market and has positive effects on health and sustainable development. Women empowered by literacy have a positive ripple effect on all aspects of development. They have greater life choices for themselves and an immediate impact on the health and education of their families, and in particular, the education of girl children.  

How does UNESCO work to promote literacy?

UNESCO works through its global network, field offices and institutes and with its Member States and partners to advance literacy in the framework of lifelong learning, and address the literacy target 4.6 in SDG4 and the Education 2030 Framework for Action . Its Strategy for Youth and Adult Literacy (2020-2025) pays special attention to the member countries of the Global Alliance for Literacy which targets 20 countries with an adult literacy rate below 50 per cent and the E9 countries, of which 17 are in Africa. The focus is on promoting literacy in formal and non-formal settings with four priority areas: strengthening national strategies and policy development on literacy; addressing the needs of disadvantaged groups, particularly women and girls; using digital technologies to expand and improve learning outcomes; and monitoring progress and assessing literacy skills. UNESCO also promotes adult learning and education through its Institute for Lifelong Learning , including the implementation of the 2015 Recommendation on Adult Learning and Education and its monitoring through the Global Report on Adult Learning and Education. 

What is digital literacy and why is it important?

UNESCO defines digital literacy as the ability to access, manage, understand, integrate, communicate, evaluate and create information safely and appropriately through digital technologies for employment, decent jobs and entrepreneurship. It includes skills such as computer literacy, ICT literacy, information literacy and media literacy which aim to empower people, and in particular youth, to adopt a critical mindset when engaging with information and digital technologies, and to build their resilience in the face of disinformation, hate speech and violent extremism.

How is UNESCO helping advance girls' and women's literacy?

UNESCO’s Global Partnership for Women and Girls Education, launched in 2011, emphasizes quality education for girls and women at the secondary level and in the area of literacy; its Literacy Initiative for Empowerment (LIFE) project (2005–15) targeted women; and UNESCO’s international literacy prizes regularly highlight the life-changing power of meeting women’s and girls’ needs for literacy in specific contexts. Literacy acquisition often brings with it positive change in relation to harmful traditional practices, forms of marginalization and deprivation. Girls’ and women’s literacy seen as lifelong learning is integral to achieving the aims of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.  

How has youth and adult literacy been impacted in times of COVID-19?

Since the start of the pandemic, several surveys have been conducted but very little is still known about the effect on youth and adult literacy of massive disruptions to learning, growing inequalities and projected increases in school dropouts. To fill this gap UNESCO will conduct a global survey “Learning from the COVID-19 crisis to write the future: National policies and programmes for youth and adult literacy” collecting information from countries worldwide regarding the situation and policy and programme responses. Its results will help UNESCO, countries and other partners respond better to the recovery phase and advance progress towards achieving Sustainable Development Goal 4 on education and its target 4.6 on youth and adult literacy. In addition, for International Literacy Day 2020, UNESCO prepared a background paper on the impact of the crisis on youth and adult literacy.

What is the purpose of the Literacy Prize and Literacy Day?

Every year since 1967, UNESCO celebrates International Literacy Day and rewards outstanding and innovative programmes that promote literacy through the International Literacy Prizes. Every year on 8 September UNESCO comes together for the annual celebration with Field Offices, institutes, NGOs, teachers, learners and partners to remind the world of the importance of literacy as a matter of dignity and human rights. The event emphasizes the power of literacy and creates awareness to advance the global agenda towards a more literate and sustainable society. 

The International Literacy Prizes reward excellence and innovation in the field of literacy and, so far, over 506 projects and programmes undertaken by governments, non-governmental organizations and individuals around the world have been recognized. Following an annual call for submissions, an International Jury of experts appointed by UNESCO's Director-General recommends potential prizewinning programmes. Candidates are submitted by Member States or by international non-governmental organizations in official partnership with UNESCO.

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• Lifelong education

Defining and Understanding Literacy

• An Introduction to Punctuation
• Ph.D., Rhetoric and English, University of Georgia
• M.A., Modern English and American Literature, University of Leicester
• B.A., English, State University of New York

Simply put, literacy is the ability to read and write in at least one language. So just about everyone in developed countries is literate in the basic sense. In her book "The Literacy Wars," Ilana Snyder argues that "there is no single, correct view of literacy that would be universally accepted. There are a number of competing definitions, and these definitions are continually changing and evolving." The following quotes raise several issues about literacy, its necessity, its power, and its evolution.

Observations on Literacy

• "Literacy is a human right, a tool of personal empowerment and a means for social and human development. Educational opportunities depend on literacy. Literacy is at the heart of basic education for all and essential for eradicating poverty, reducing child mortality, curbing population growth, achieving gender equality and ensuring sustainable development, peace, and democracy.", "Why Is Literacy Important?" UNESCO , 2010
• "The notion of basic literacy is used for the initial learning of reading and writing, which adults who have never been to school need to go through. The term functional literacy is kept for the level of reading and writing that adults are thought to need in a modern complex society. Use of the term underlines the idea that although people may have basic levels of literacy, they need a different level to operate in their day-to-day lives.", David Barton, "Literacy: An Introduction to the Ecology of Written Language ," 2006
• "To acquire literacy is more than to psychologically and mechanically dominate reading and writing techniques. It is to dominate those techniques in terms of consciousness; to understand what one reads and to write what one understands: It is to communicate graphically. Acquiring literacy does not involve memorizing sentences, words or syllables, lifeless objects unconnected to an existential universe, but rather an attitude of creation and re-creation, a self-transformation producing a stance of intervention in one's context.", Paulo Freire, "Education for Critical Consciousness," 1974
• "There is hardly an oral culture or a predominantly oral culture left in the world today that is not somehow aware of the vast complex of powers forever inaccessible without literacy.", Walter J. Ong, "Orality and Literacy: The Technologizing of the Word," 1982

Women and Literacy

Joan Acocella, in a New Yorker review of the book "The Woman Reader" by Belinda Jack, had this to say in 2012:

"In the history of women, there is probably no matter, apart from contraception, more important than literacy. With the advent of the Industrial Revolution, access to the power required knowledge of the world. This could not be gained without reading and writing, skills that were granted to men long before they were to women. Deprived of them, women were condemned to stay home with the livestock or, if they were lucky, with the servants. (Alternatively, they may have been the servants.) Compared with men, they led mediocre lives. In thinking about wisdom, it helps to read about wisdom, about Solomon or Socrates or whomever. Likewise, goodness and happiness and love. To decide whether you have them or want to make the sacrifices necessary to get them, it is useful to read about them. Without such introspection, women seemed stupid; therefore, they were considered unfit for education; therefore, they weren’t given an education; therefore they seemed stupid." 

A New Definition?

Barry Sanders, in "A Is for Ox: Violence, Electronic Media, and the Silencing of the Written Word" (1994), makes a case for a changing definition of literacy in the technological age.

"We need a radical redefinition of literacy, one that includes a recognition of the vital importance that morality plays in shaping literacy . We need a radical redefinition of what it means for society to have all the appearances of literacy and yet to abandon the book as its dominant metaphor. We must understand what happens when the computer replaces the book as the prime metaphor for visualizing the self." "It is important to remember that those who celebrate the intensities and discontinuities of postmodern electronic culture in print write from an advanced literacy. That literacy provides them the profound power of choosing their ideational repertoire. No such choice or power is available to the illiterate young person subjected to an endless stream of electronic images." 

• Orality: Definition and Examples
• What Is a Literacy Test?
• The Power of Literacy Narratives
• 5 Ways to Improve Adult Literacy
• Definition and Meaning of Illiteracy
• Multiple Literacies: Definition, Types, and Classroom Strategies
• Adult Education
• How to Assess and Teach Reading Comprehension
• How to Understand a Difficult Reading Passage
• Thinking About Reading
• Teaching Developmental Reading Skills for Targeted Content Focuses
• 7 Active Reading Strategies for Students
• 'Fahrenheit 451' Overview
• Editor Definition
• 7 Independent Reading Activities to Increase Literacy
• Literature Definitions: What Makes a Book a Classic?

Table of Contents

Collaboration, information literacy, writing process.

• © 2023 by Joseph M. Moxley - University of South Florida

Historically, literacy refers to the act of reading and writing--the act of symbolic thinking. Yet, over time, as humanity has developed new tools for expression (e.g., the printing press, the internet, social media, or artificial intelligence), humanity has developed a more nuanced understanding of what it means to read and write. This article defines literacy, summarizes different types of literacies, and explores the effects of literacy on human consciousness and culture.

Literacy Definition

Literacy refers to, or functions as,

• the ability to  read  and  write  in home, school, workplace, and public settings
• an amalgam of competencies, skills, knowledge, and dispositions related to acts of interpretation , communication , or competency
• a commodity
• empowers people to develop their personal, social, and economic power
• empowers literate cultures to develop new ideas and methods, including science, social science, humanities, engineering, and arts
• a measure of educational attainment and audience awareness .

Related Concepts: Academic Writing Prose Style ; Critical Literacy ; Information Literacy ; Intellectual Openness ; Professional Writing Prose Style ; Rhetoric & Apparatus Theory ; Semiotics: Sign, Signifier, Signified ; Writing Process

What is Literacy? – Guide to Literacy in 2023

Definitions of literacy are constantly changing as cultures and technologies evolve–and as our understanding of reading and writing becomes more nuanced. Throughout much of human history, literacy referred simply to a person’s ability to read and write alphabetical texts . Around 3400 BC in Sumer (in modern day Iraq) you were literate if you could write in Sumerian on a clay tablet to record agricultural matters and business contracts. In the Middle Ages you were considered literate if you could sign your name with an X to symbolize “In Christ’s name, it’s true/I assert.” Later on, you were considered literate if you could read a bus schedule or a daily newspaper.

In more recent times, literacy has come to refer to

• any act of symbolic thinking (e.g., visual language , nonverbal language, or musical language) to communicate
• any competency. For instance, someone with sports knowledge could be said to have sports literacy. Or someone with knowledge of medical discourse might be described as scientifically literate.

In some  discourse communities  in 2023, you wouldn’t be considered  literate  if you couldn’t write computer code, create  data visualizations , publish a podcast, or design an iPhone app. In  workplace writing , as  communication  has become more  visual  and interactive, basic literacy may be defined as  knowledge  of the  principles of design  or  universal design  or even  page design and scannability . In settings such as college-level courses, basic literacy may refer to the ability to manipulate photos, subscribe to and publish podcasts, data walk content across digital platforms, and publish content online via various digital tools, such as WordPress, Wiki, Instagram, or Tik Tok. As an example of  audience awareness  and changing literacy standards, consider, e.g., the following billboard that was posted by Electronic Arts to advertise job vacancies for programmers. In computer code, it reads “Now Hiring!” (Prensky 2008).

Thanks to advances in human knowledge , new writing spaces (e.g., clay or stone tablets, papyrus, paper, email, text messages, social media) are constantly evolving–and challenging existing assumptions about the best ways to read and write. These writing spaces along with new writing tools (e.g., fingers, quills, pencils, pens, keyboards, stylus, mouse, ChatGPT) have affordances and constraints that profoundly influence whether they replace existing technologies or whether they create new means of creative expression. When writing spaces and writing tools — the apparatus of writing — make a composing process easier, those tools are likely to be widely adopted. Note, for instance, how the internet’s affordance of permitting a single individual to communicate to a massive global audience has transformed authorship, copyright , politics, economics, culture, and intellectual property standards .

New writing spaces and writing tool s are constantly redefining

• their research methodologies along with the epistemological assumptions about what constitutes a valid knowledge claim
• the medium of expression (e.g., alphabetical language; visual language ; nonverbal language)
• their composing process (aka creative process) .

1. Literacy Refers to the Ability To Read and Write

Traditionally, the term literacy refers to humanity’s unique capability to read and write –and to engage in acts of symbolic thought. Between 16 and 24 months children are capable of associating words and symbols with concrete objects . For instance, when reading a children’s book, children may point to a familiar object such as a picture of a dog and say “dog” (“Symbolic Thought” 2012).

As humanity has developed new tools for expression (e.g., the print press, the internet, social media, AI – Artificial Intelligence), we have also developed more nuanced ways of defining literacy–new ways of conceptualizing reading and writing

Semiotics , an interdisciplinary academic field that investigates how people convey meaning to one another, conceptualizes reading to be an act of signification . In this model, meaning is composed of (1)  a signifier –i.e., a word or symbol or something that conveys meaning to others — and (2) a signified –i.e., the underlying meaning associated with a sign . In other words, meaning is — a sign -which is any word , symbol , visualization or thing that can be interpreted to mean something.

In this definition of literacy, meaning-making is a social process: To communicate , writers and readers use signs that are socially shared among members of a discourse community . For communication to be successful, thus, the reader and the writer must share an understanding of what the Semiotics: Sign, Signifier, Signified means. In other words, writers and readers constitute a discourse community , a shared interpretative network . People are inculcated into the discourse practices of a community by reading, by communicating wit h others in the discourse community and through schooling–enculturation: Informally, they read the works of other community members, the archive , and learn over time who quotes whom–what the canon is.

During school, students are introduced to the expectations of discourse communities , particularly as they learn about the discourse practices of the academic and workplace writers . For instance, in the U.S. students learn the conventions of Standard Written English , including formal instruction in grammar , mechanics , and style –especially The Elements of Style . In higher education coursework, students enrolled in first-year writing courses across colleges and universities are trained to adopt an academic writing prose style . They are introduced to academic genres (e.g., an annotated bibliography or an argument ), information literacy perspectives & practices , and citation practices . From reading, talks with others in a discourse community , and from their own experiences receiving critiques from others, they learn to share expectations about common patterns for genre , diction , grammar , mechanics , sentence structure , media –and more. In turn, students enrolled in workplace writing courses are introduced to the shared expectations of a professional writing prose style for business contexts. Broadly speaking, all of these discourse conventions constitute signs than can be interpreted by members of a discourse community .

2. Literacy Refers to a Synthesis of Cognitive, Interpersonal, and Intrapersonal Competencies

Literacy, as defined by the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) community is an amalgam of many competencies, skills, knowledge, and dispositions. In  Education for Life  and Work  (2012), The National Research Council theorizes that all of the competencies involved in acts of communication coalesce under three foundational knowledge domains:

• Cognitive Competencies
• Intrapersonal Competencies
• Interpersonal Competencies

Notice in their depiction of these knowledge domains below that the National Research Council places communication , reasoning, and problem solving at the center of their conceptual illustration. In other words, the STEM community defines literacy as literacy a complex, symbolic process that is dependent on numerous interdependent competencies.

3. Literacy Refers to a Commodity

Literacy functions as a commodity : the ability to read and write , to engage in symbolic thinking, may be exchanged for money, goods, services, opportunities, and jobs. Mastery of specialized literacies — such as digital literacy, visual literacy , design literacy , financial literacy, health literacy — can be particularly profitable.

Moreover, ideas, concepts, inventions, original stories are all forms of intellectual property that are protected by copyright . Information has value .

Each year, NACE (The National Association of Colleges and Employers) surveys employers regarding their hiring plans and desires. Year after year, communication and critical thinking are the most highly sought after competencies. In 2022, for instance, 98.5% of the employers surveyed believed communication competencies were needed for career readiness, yet employers believed only 54.3% of college graduates were suitably prepared to communicate well in the workplace.

4. Literacy Refers to a Technology, a Toolset

In Writing Studies (and the broader education community) literacy is perceived to

• empower people to develop their personal, social, and economic power
• empower literate cultures to develop new ideas and research methods, including science, social science, humanities, engineering, and arts–and more.

Literacy Empowers People to Develop their Personal, Social, and Economic Power

Personal power.

Literacy provides agency. Strong communication skills will enable you to fight for changes you deem important and help you develop your goals and personal mission. Writing (and communication in general) enables you to articulate the need for change and action. Informing, persuading, and entertaining other people about your thoughts and insights enables you to provoke changes you deem important.

Literacy facilitates your personal development in meaningful ways. Engaging in writing about your goals can help you determine 

• develop your cognitive, intrapersonal, and interpersonal competencies
• develop awareness of others–different cultures, historical periods–and more
• affirm a growth mindset , take authority and ownership of your life
• think independently and be an agent for change
• make the world a better place.

When you write something down on a page, you are no longer as slave to memory. Literacy empowers reflection, self regulation , and metacognition . By transforming your thoughts into text , you create an opportunity to return to that thought and reflect on it. This affordance of writing to help you record a thought for later reflection frees you from the tyranny of a moment-by-moment existence.

Writing from our hearts, sharing our experiences, can be important to our personal happiness. You can keep a journal to reflect on your writing processes , obstacles, and ambitions. When you read the work of other people who have different values, experiences, religions, and world views, your own knowledge and perspective may evolve. While conducting research for writing, you are likely to come across ideas, places, and concepts that you otherwise might not consider. While collaborating on documents, you may obtain insights from your co-authors regarding your strengths and weakness as a researcher, writer, and collaborator.

Social Power – Cultural Power

From a personal-social perspective, writing enables individuals to forge connections with family and friends as well as people we may not otherwise meet in face-to-face situations. Via handwritten notes to posts on social media, writing affords the possibility of connecting with friends and sharing insights and aspirations. Our writing can create rich social networks that give us a sense of meaning and connectedness.

From a nation-state perspective, literacy is an important measure of a country’s competitiveness, and a signal of the health of its people and the quality of its educational systems. Not surprisingly, nations are eager to measure literacy within their borders and across nation states.

• PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) is a worldwide assessment of the mathematical, science, and reading competencies of 15 year olds conducted by the  Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development  (OECD). In 2018, the last time PISA was conducted, the United States ranked 13th out of 79 countries and regions. The top 10 countries were China (B-S-J-Z), Singapore, Macao (China), Estonia, Canada, Finland, Ireland, Korea, Sweden, and New Zealand).
• In the U.S., the Department of Education (IES) conducts “The Nation’s Report Card” (aka “The NAEP Report Card”) to investigate literacy rates at the 4th, 8th, and 12th grade level. In 2019, grade 12 students’ average reading skills fell two points–with males showing higher declines than females:

According to a subsequent NAEP report card, the decline in U.S. students’ literacy skills in 2019 accelerated in 2022: Remarkably, only thirty-three percent of fourth grade students scored at or above the NAEP proficiency level. Across the board literacy rates fell at the 4th and 8th level (12 grade assessments have yet to be reported): “the average reading score at both fourth and eighth grade decreased by 3 points compared to 2019. At fourth grade, the average reading score was lower than all previous assessment years going back to 2005 and was not significantly different in comparison to 1992.” This is especially problematic because children who cannot read in the 4th grade are 15 times more likely to drop out of school (NAEP Report Card: Reading 2019). At the adult level, there is further evidence of declining literacy competencies in the U.S.: “ According to a 2021 Pew Research survey , roughly a quarter of American adults—including 38 percent of Hispanic adults, 25 percent of Black adults and 20 percent of white adults—say they haven’t read a book in whole or in part in the past year, whether in print or in electronic or audio form. This is even true of 11 percent of adults with a bachelor’s or other advanced degree. These  figures  are nearly triple those reported in 1978″ (Mintz 2022).

From a social perspective, declines in literacy weaken the social fabric of a culture, creating fragmentation and discord. Without a shared archive , canon , people lack shared religious, political, and historical allusions.

Economic Power

Literacy is strongly correlated with economic power: “In an information  economy ,  reading  and writing serve as input, output, and conduit for producing profit and winning  economic  advantage (Deborah Brandt, D. 2001) .

Literacy empower literate cultures to develop new ideas and methods–and more.

In Writing Studies and Media Studies, literacy is perceived to be a technology that transforms consciousness and cultures. For instance, in Orality and literacy : the technologizing of the word , Walter Ong theorizes that literacy empowers cultures to break away from the discourse patterns of orality. Ong argues literacy creates the possibility of sustained inquiry and science; it offers a method for interpreting texts ( hermeneutics ), creates the need for schooling, and places the spotlight on knowledge as opposed to pathos , which underscores oral discourse. He argues oral cultures tend to repeat the same things over and over again–that the focus is on memory and repetition as opposed to making new knowledge or testing knowledge claims :

Following Ong’s analysis of ways literacy transforms human consciousness and following the emergence of the internet and new media, Gregory Ulmer has theorized that we have entered an Age of Electracy. For Ulmer, electracy functions as a form of entertainment that is experienced subjectively. (See Rhetoric & Apparatus Theory for more on this.)

5. Literacy Refers to a Measure of Educational Attainment and Audience Awareness.

Ultimately, as you have no doubt surmised from the above discussion, literacy functions as a signal of how educated someone is with regards to a discourse community’s conventions and expectations . If you cannot adjust the register of your communications and use the diction, syntax, genres, and media your audiences expects, then you’ll be judged as uneducated or unprofessional.

Types of Literacy

Because the term literacy has been broadened to reference competency in any topic , there are literally hundreds of different types of literacies. Below are a few of the main ones, the ones that matter in academic and workplace contexts .

Functional Literacy

At the international level, as discussed above, world governments focus on functional definitions of literacy–i.e., how well citizens can understand words and sentences and how well they can interpret, make inferences from, and act on what they read across multiple texts. For instance, can citizens understand a newspaper? Can they understand an airplane or bus schedule? Can they read the job announcement and submit a job application?

Critical Literacy

In educational contexts, critical literacy , rather than functional literacy , is the goal. Critical literacy is concerned with rhetorical analysis of power relationships. Critical literacy engages students in metacognition and self reflection about the currency, relevance, authority, accuracy, and purpose of knowledge claims .

Digital Literacy

Digital literacy concerns how individuals navigate and employ digital tools to consume and produce information.

New communication technologies (e.g., the pen, pencil, printing press, internet) alter how people think and conduct themselves–how they collaborate, design , edit , invent , organize , research , and revise documents. As communication technologies evolve, digital literacies create new genres and new media .

Information Literacy   refers to the  competencies  associated with  locating ,  evaluating ,  using , and archiving   information . In order to thrive, much less survive in  a global information economy  — an economy where  information  functions as a capital good such as money or social influence — you need to be strategic about how you  consume  and use  information .

• ACRL Information Literacy Perspectives & Practices
• Authority (in Speech and Writing)
• Empathetic Information Literacy
• Information Architecture
• Information Design
• Information, Data
• Interpretation, Interpretative Frameworks
• The CRAAP Test

Quantitative Literacy

Quantitative Literacy refers to the ability to understand, interpret, create, communicate and compute numerical information.

Visual Literacy

“Visual literacy is a set of abilities that enables an individual to effectively find, interpret, evaluate, use, and create images and visual media. Visual literacy skills equip a learner to understand and analyze the contextual, cultural, ethical, aesthetic, intellectual, and technical components involved in the production and use of visual materials. A visually literate individual is both a critical consumer of visual media and a competent contributor to a body of shared knowledge and culture. .In an interdisciplinary, higher education environment, a visually literate individual is able to Determine the nature and extent of the visual materials needed Find and access needed images and visual media effectively and efficiently Interpret and analyze the meaning of images and visual media Critically evaluate images and their sources Use images and visual media effectively Design and create meaningful images and visual media Understand many of the ethical, legal, social, and economic issues surrounding the creation and use of images and visual media, and access and use visual materials ethically.” ACRL (Association of College & Research Libraries

• ( ACRL Visual Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education ).

Recommended Resources

Ong. (1988). Orality and literacy : the technologizing of the word. Routledge.

What is Literacy? Literacy — What it means to be literate or to engage in literacy practices — is never a question that can be answered definitively. Why? Because what it means to be literate is constantly changing, evolving. Years ago, if you could correctly interpret a bus map and get to work, you’d be considered literate . In today’s world, you’re not literate — by some community standards — — if you cannot read and write computer code.

Why Does Literacy Matter? Literacy–broadly conceived of as reading and writing–is empowering, both professionally and personally. Engaging in literacy practices further develops your cognitive, intrapersonal, and interpersonal competencies . Literacy provides a culture, a community , with the capacity to design an archive ; to engage in dialog, textual hermeneutics , and research ; and to track citations and contributions to human knowledge .

“ACRL Visual Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education”, American Library Association, October 27, 2011. http://www.ala.org/acrl/standards/visualliteracy (Accessed February 11, 2023). Document ID: 4d02961f-23ff-b874-7d6d-9f8d0b87e7c2

Brandt, D. (Ed.). (2001). Literacy, Opportunity, and Economic Change. In Literacy in American Lives (pp. 25–46). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511810237.002

National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) . (n.d.). Retrieved February 8, 2023, from https://nces.ed.gov/naal/fr_definition.asp#:~:text=Literacy%20is%20the%20ability%20to,develop%20one’s%20knowledge%20and%20potential.

National Research Council. (2012).  Education for Life and Work: Developing Transferable Knowledge and Skills in the 21st Century . J.W. Pellegrino and M.L. Hilton (Eds.), Committee on Defining Deeper Learning and 21st Century Skills, Center for Education, Board on Testing and Assessment, Division of Behavioral Sciences

NAEP Reading: Reading Highlights 2022 . (2022, November). NAEP Report Card: 2022 NAEP Reading Assessment. https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/highlights/reading/2022/

UNESCO. (2006)  Education for All: A Global Monitoring Report . Chapter 6: “Understandings of Literacy.” p. 147-159,   http://www.unesco.org/education/GMR2006/full/chapt6_eng.pdf

White, S., and McCloskey, M. (2003).  Framework for the 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy  (NCES 2005-531). U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics.  https://nces.ed.gov/NAAL/fr_skills.asp

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Cognitive, intrapersonal, and interpersonal competencies, according to learning scientists, form the foundation of communication and thought. Learn about these highly prized, workforce-competencies.

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Semiotics is a theory of communication.Review scholarship on how humans use and interpret signs to communicate, learn, and to develop new knowledge,

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The Beginner's Guide to Writing an Essay | Steps & Examples

An academic essay is a focused piece of writing that develops an idea or argument using evidence, analysis, and interpretation.

There are many types of essays you might write as a student. The content and length of an essay depends on your level, subject of study, and course requirements. However, most essays at university level are argumentative — they aim to persuade the reader of a particular position or perspective on a topic.

The essay writing process consists of three main stages:

• Preparation: Decide on your topic, do your research, and create an essay outline.
• Writing : Set out your argument in the introduction, develop it with evidence in the main body, and wrap it up with a conclusion.
• Revision:  Check your essay on the content, organization, grammar, spelling, and formatting of your essay.

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Table of contents

Essay writing process, preparation for writing an essay, writing the introduction, writing the main body, writing the conclusion, essay checklist, lecture slides, frequently asked questions about writing an essay.

The writing process of preparation, writing, and revisions applies to every essay or paper, but the time and effort spent on each stage depends on the type of essay .

For example, if you’ve been assigned a five-paragraph expository essay for a high school class, you’ll probably spend the most time on the writing stage; for a college-level argumentative essay , on the other hand, you’ll need to spend more time researching your topic and developing an original argument before you start writing.

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Before you start writing, you should make sure you have a clear idea of what you want to say and how you’re going to say it. There are a few key steps you can follow to make sure you’re prepared:

• Understand your assignment: What is the goal of this essay? What is the length and deadline of the assignment? Is there anything you need to clarify with your teacher or professor?
• Define a topic: If you’re allowed to choose your own topic , try to pick something that you already know a bit about and that will hold your interest.
• Do your research: Read  primary and secondary sources and take notes to help you work out your position and angle on the topic. You’ll use these as evidence for your points.
• Come up with a thesis:  The thesis is the central point or argument that you want to make. A clear thesis is essential for a focused essay—you should keep referring back to it as you write.
• Create an outline: Map out the rough structure of your essay in an outline . This makes it easier to start writing and keeps you on track as you go.

Once you’ve got a clear idea of what you want to discuss, in what order, and what evidence you’ll use, you’re ready to start writing.

The introduction sets the tone for your essay. It should grab the reader’s interest and inform them of what to expect. The introduction generally comprises 10–20% of the text.

1. Hook your reader

The first sentence of the introduction should pique your reader’s interest and curiosity. This sentence is sometimes called the hook. It might be an intriguing question, a surprising fact, or a bold statement emphasizing the relevance of the topic.

Let’s say we’re writing an essay about the development of Braille (the raised-dot reading and writing system used by visually impaired people). Our hook can make a strong statement about the topic:

The invention of Braille was a major turning point in the history of disability.

2. Provide background on your topic

Next, it’s important to give context that will help your reader understand your argument. This might involve providing background information, giving an overview of important academic work or debates on the topic, and explaining difficult terms. Don’t provide too much detail in the introduction—you can elaborate in the body of your essay.

3. Present the thesis statement

Next, you should formulate your thesis statement— the central argument you’re going to make. The thesis statement provides focus and signals your position on the topic. It is usually one or two sentences long. The thesis statement for our essay on Braille could look like this:

As the first writing system designed for blind people’s needs, Braille was a groundbreaking new accessibility tool. It not only provided practical benefits, but also helped change the cultural status of blindness.

4. Map the structure

In longer essays, you can end the introduction by briefly describing what will be covered in each part of the essay. This guides the reader through your structure and gives a preview of how your argument will develop.

The invention of Braille marked a major turning point in the history of disability. The writing system of raised dots used by blind and visually impaired people was developed by Louis Braille in nineteenth-century France. In a society that did not value disabled people in general, blindness was particularly stigmatized, and lack of access to reading and writing was a significant barrier to social participation. The idea of tactile reading was not entirely new, but existing methods based on sighted systems were difficult to learn and use. As the first writing system designed for blind people’s needs, Braille was a groundbreaking new accessibility tool. It not only provided practical benefits, but also helped change the cultural status of blindness. This essay begins by discussing the situation of blind people in nineteenth-century Europe. It then describes the invention of Braille and the gradual process of its acceptance within blind education. Subsequently, it explores the wide-ranging effects of this invention on blind people’s social and cultural lives.

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The body of your essay is where you make arguments supporting your thesis, provide evidence, and develop your ideas. Its purpose is to present, interpret, and analyze the information and sources you have gathered to support your argument.

Length of the body text

The length of the body depends on the type of essay. On average, the body comprises 60–80% of your essay. For a high school essay, this could be just three paragraphs, but for a graduate school essay of 6,000 words, the body could take up 8–10 pages.

Paragraph structure

To give your essay a clear structure , it is important to organize it into paragraphs . Each paragraph should be centered around one main point or idea.

That idea is introduced in a  topic sentence . The topic sentence should generally lead on from the previous paragraph and introduce the point to be made in this paragraph. Transition words can be used to create clear connections between sentences.

After the topic sentence, present evidence such as data, examples, or quotes from relevant sources. Be sure to interpret and explain the evidence, and show how it helps develop your overall argument.

Lack of access to reading and writing put blind people at a serious disadvantage in nineteenth-century society. Text was one of the primary methods through which people engaged with culture, communicated with others, and accessed information; without a well-developed reading system that did not rely on sight, blind people were excluded from social participation (Weygand, 2009). While disabled people in general suffered from discrimination, blindness was widely viewed as the worst disability, and it was commonly believed that blind people were incapable of pursuing a profession or improving themselves through culture (Weygand, 2009). This demonstrates the importance of reading and writing to social status at the time: without access to text, it was considered impossible to fully participate in society. Blind people were excluded from the sighted world, but also entirely dependent on sighted people for information and education.

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The conclusion is the final paragraph of an essay. It should generally take up no more than 10–15% of the text . A strong essay conclusion :

• Returns to your thesis
• Ties together your main points
• Shows why your argument matters

A great conclusion should finish with a memorable or impactful sentence that leaves the reader with a strong final impression.

What not to include in a conclusion

To make your essay’s conclusion as strong as possible, there are a few things you should avoid. The most common mistakes are:

• Including new arguments or evidence
• Undermining your arguments (e.g. “This is just one approach of many”)
• Using concluding phrases like “To sum up…” or “In conclusion…”

Braille paved the way for dramatic cultural changes in the way blind people were treated and the opportunities available to them. Louis Braille’s innovation was to reimagine existing reading systems from a blind perspective, and the success of this invention required sighted teachers to adapt to their students’ reality instead of the other way around. In this sense, Braille helped drive broader social changes in the status of blindness. New accessibility tools provide practical advantages to those who need them, but they can also change the perspectives and attitudes of those who do not.

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Checklist: Essay

My essay follows the requirements of the assignment (topic and length ).

My introduction sparks the reader’s interest and provides any necessary background information on the topic.

My introduction contains a thesis statement that states the focus and position of the essay.

I use paragraphs to structure the essay.

I use topic sentences to introduce each paragraph.

Each paragraph has a single focus and a clear connection to the thesis statement.

I make clear transitions between paragraphs and ideas.

My conclusion doesn’t just repeat my points, but draws connections between arguments.

I don’t introduce new arguments or evidence in the conclusion.

I have given an in-text citation for every quote or piece of information I got from another source.

I have included a reference page at the end of my essay, listing full details of all my sources.

My citations and references are correctly formatted according to the required citation style .

My essay has an interesting and informative title.

I have followed all formatting guidelines (e.g. font, page numbers, line spacing).

Your essay meets all the most important requirements. Our editors can give it a final check to help you submit with confidence.

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An essay is a focused piece of writing that explains, argues, describes, or narrates.

In high school, you may have to write many different types of essays to develop your writing skills.

Academic essays at college level are usually argumentative : you develop a clear thesis about your topic and make a case for your position using evidence, analysis and interpretation.

The structure of an essay is divided into an introduction that presents your topic and thesis statement , a body containing your in-depth analysis and arguments, and a conclusion wrapping up your ideas.

The structure of the body is flexible, but you should always spend some time thinking about how you can organize your essay to best serve your ideas.

Your essay introduction should include three main things, in this order:

• An opening hook to catch the reader’s attention.
• Relevant background information that the reader needs to know.
• A thesis statement that presents your main point or argument.

The length of each part depends on the length and complexity of your essay .

A thesis statement is a sentence that sums up the central point of your paper or essay . Everything else you write should relate to this key idea.

The thesis statement is essential in any academic essay or research paper for two main reasons:

• It gives your writing direction and focus.
• It gives the reader a concise summary of your main point.

Without a clear thesis statement, an essay can end up rambling and unfocused, leaving your reader unsure of exactly what you want to say.

A topic sentence is a sentence that expresses the main point of a paragraph . Everything else in the paragraph should relate to the topic sentence.

At college level, you must properly cite your sources in all essays , research papers , and other academic texts (except exams and in-class exercises).

Add a citation whenever you quote , paraphrase , or summarize information or ideas from a source. You should also give full source details in a bibliography or reference list at the end of your text.

The exact format of your citations depends on which citation style you are instructed to use. The most common styles are APA , MLA , and Chicago .

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3.5 Writing Process: Tracing the Beginnings of Literacy

Learning outcomes.

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

• Develop a writing project through multiple drafts.
• Use composing for inquiry, learning, critical thinking, and communicating in various rhetorical, cultural, and language situations.
• Give and act on productive feedback to works in progress.
• Benefit from the collaborative and social aspects of writing processes.
• Use language structures, including multilingual structures, grammar, punctuation, and spelling, during the processes of composing and revising.

Many inexperienced writers imagine that “good” writers compose their texts all at once, from beginning to end, and need only a small amount of attention to polish the grammar and punctuation before arriving at a final draft. In reality, however, the writing process (steps for creating a finished composition) is typically recursive . That is, it repeats steps multiple times, not necessarily in the same order, and the process is more messy than linear or systematic. You can think of the writing process in terms of these broad categories:

• Prewriting. You will end up with a stronger composition if you do some work before you begin writing. Before putting complete sentences on a page, take some time to think about the rhetorical situation for your writing, gather your thoughts, and consider how you might arrange your ideas.
• Drafting. In the past, you may have dedicated most of your writing time to drafting, or putting words into a document. When you have strong prewriting and revision habits, however, drafting is often a smaller portion of the writing process.
• Peer Review. Almost all strong writers rely on feedback from others, whether peers, instructors, or editors. Your instructor may guide you in some peer review exercises to complete with your classmates, or you might choose to consult with your university’s writing center. When others give you clear, honest feedback on your draft, you can use that information to strengthen your piece.
• Revision. After you have a draft, carefully consider how to make it more effective in reaching the audience and fulfilling its purpose. You can make changes that affect the piece as a whole; such changes are often called global revisions. You can also make changes that affect only the meaning of a sentence or a word; these changes can be called local revisions.

Summary of Assignment: Independent Literacy Narrative

In this assignment, you will write an essay in which you offer a developed narrative about an aspect of your literacy practice or experience. Consider some of these questions to generate ideas for writing: What literacies and learning experiences have had profound effects on your life? When did this engagement occur? Where were you? Were there other participants? Have you told this story before? If so, how often, and why do you think you return to it? Has this engagement shaped your current literacy practices? Will it shape your practices going forward?

The development of your literacy experiences can take multiple paths. If you use the tools provided in this section, you will be able to effectively compose a unique literacy narrative that reflects your identities and experiences. The questions prompting your writing in this section can help you begin to develop an independent literacy narrative. The next section, on community literacy narratives, helps you consider your composition course community and ways to think about your shared experiences around literacy. The following section, on literacy narrative research, guides you to a database of literacy narratives that offer an opportunity to analyze the ways in which others in the academic community have reflected on their literacy experiences. Further sections will guide you through the development and organization of your work as you navigate this genre.

Another Lens 1. As an alternative to an individual literacy narrative, members of your composition course community can develop a set of interview questions that will allow you to learn more about each other’s past and present experiences with literacy. After the community has determined what the interview questions will be, choose a partner from the composition community to work with on this assignment; alternatively, your instructor may assign partners for the class. Using the interview questions you have discussed and developed, you will conduct an interview with your partner, and they with you. Your instructor will allow you and your peers to record and transcribe one another’s responses and post them where all students in the community have access. After you have completed, transcribed, and posted your interviews, everyone will closely examine each of their peers’ interviews and look for recurring themes as well as unique aspects of the narratives shared. This assignment will inevitably illuminate both the communal nature and the unique, independent experiences of literacy engagement.

Another Lens 2. Using DALN , perform a keyword search for literacy narratives on one aspect or area of concentration that interests you, such as music, dance, or poetry. Select two or more narratives from the archive to read and analyze. Read and annotate each narrative, and then think about a unique position you can take when discussing these stories. Use these questions to guide the development of your stance: Do you have experiences in this concentrated area of literacy? If so, how do your experiences intersect with or depart from the ones you are reading? What common themes, if any, do these narratives share? What do these narratives reveal about literacy practices in general and about this area of concentration in particular?

Quick Launch: Defining Your Rhetorical Situation, Generating Ideas, and Organizing

When you are writing a literacy narrative, think about

• your audience and purpose for writing;
• the ideas and experiences that best reflect your encounters with various literacies; and
• the order in which you would like to present your information.

The Rhetorical Situation

A rhetorical situation occurs every time anyone communicates with anyone else. To prepare to write your literacy narrative, use a graphic organizer like Table 3.1 to outline the rhetorical situation by addressing the following aspects:

Generating Ideas

In addition to these notes, write a few ideas relating to your literacy experiences. Feel free to use bullet points or incomplete sentences.

• What instructors, formal or informal, helped or hindered you in learning literacies?
• Which of your literacies feel(s) most comfortable?
• Which literacy experiences have transformed you?
• Do you use specialized language to signal your identity as part of a community or cultural group?
• After you look back over your notes, what is the most compelling story about a literacy or literacy experience that you can share, and what is the significance of that story?

In one last step before beginning to draft your literacy narrative, think visually about how you will put the pieces together.

• Where will you begin and end your literacy narrative, and what is your story arc? Will you jump right into some richly described action, or will you set the scene for the reader by describing an important story locale first?
• What tension will the story resolve?
• What specific sensory details, dialogue, and action will you include?
• What vignettes, or small scenes, will you include, and in what order should the audience encounter them?
• Some of your paragraphs will “show” scenes to your readers, and some of your paragraphs will “tell” your readers explanatory information. After you decide what elements to show to your readers through vivid descriptions and what elements you will inform your readers about, decide how to order those elements within your draft.
• Review the specific writing prompt given in the summary of the assignment, and make any additional notes needed in response to that material. Use visual organizers in such as those presented in Figure 3.10 through Figure 3.13 to develop the plan for your draft:

Use the graphic organizer structure above that best helps you establish the narrative arc for your literacy story, including the following elements:

• Beginning. Set the scene by providing information about the characters, setting (where and when the narrative takes place), culture, background, and situation.
• Rising Action. In each successive section, whether it is a paragraph or more, add dialogue and other details to make your story vivid and engaging for readers so that they will want to continue reading. Tell your story in an order that makes sense and is clear to readers.
• Climax. At this point, show what finally happened to clinch the experience. How did the literacy experience finally take hold? Or why didn’t it? What happened at this “climactic” moment?
• Falling Action. This is the part where the tension is released and you have achieved—or not—what you set out to do. This section may be quite short, as it may simply describe a new feeling or reaction. It leads directly to the next section, which may be more reflective.
• Resolution. This is a reflective portion. How has this new literacy affected you? How do you view things differently? How do you think it affected the person who taught you or others with whom you are close?

Drafting: Writing from Personal Experience and Observation

Now that you have planned your literacy narrative, you are ready to begin drafting. If you have been thoughtful in preparing to write, drafting usually proceeds quickly and smoothly. Use your notes to guide you in composing the first draft. As you write about specific events and scenes, create a rich picture for your reader by using concrete, sensory details and specific rather than general nouns as shown in Table 3.2 .

Using Frederick Douglass’s Text as a Drafting Model

As Douglass does, create your literacy narrative from your recollections of people, places, things, and events. Reread the following passage.

public domain text The plan which I adopted, and the one by which I was most successful, was that of making friends of all the little white boys whom I met in the street. As many of these as I could, I converted into teachers. With their kindly aid, obtained at different times and in different places, I finally succeeded in learning to read. When I was sent of errands, I always took my book with me, and by going one part of my errand quickly, I found time to get a lesson before my return. I used also to carry bread with me, enough of which was always in the house, and to which I was always welcome; for I was much better off in this regard than many of the poor white children in our neighborhood. This bread I used to bestow upon the hungry little urchins, who, in return, would give me that more valuable bread of knowledge. I am strongly tempted to give the names of two or three of those little boys, as a testimonial of the gratitude and affection I bear them; but prudence forbids;—not that it would injure me, but it might embarrass them; for it is almost an unpardonable offence to teach slaves to read in this Christian country. It is enough to say of the dear little fellows, that they lived on Philpot Street, very near Durgin and Bailey’s ship-yard. I used to talk this matter of slavery over with them. I would sometimes say to them, I wished I could be as free as they would be when they got to be men. “You will be free as soon as you are twenty-one, but I am a slave for life ! Have not I as good a right to be free as you have?” These words used to trouble them; they would express for me the liveliest sympathy, and console me with the hope that something would occur by which I might be free. end public domain text

In this selection from Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass , elements of the literacy narrative genre as explained in Glance at Genre: The Literacy Narrative are evident. First, Douglass introduces additional characters who help him resolve his earlier complication of being prevented from learning to read by the Aulds. The interaction he records here reiterates the larger conflict of the narrative: Douglass’s continuing enslavement. Although he does not give many scenic details, few more would be needed, for he places the action on the street near a shipyard, thereby giving an indication of the surroundings. Douglass presents his own words in dialogue to reinforce for readers that he knows how to speak and write in the ways that white people with means were taught at the time. In this piece, set against the backdrop of a culture that insisted on viewing enslaved people as “brutes,” Douglass demonstrates his dignity by displaying his facility with language and his humanity by offering bread to hungry children who have more freedom and opportunity, but less food, than he does.

To create a draft that draws on multiple elements of storytelling, as this selection from Douglass does, you may need to generate ideas for additional scenes, or you may need to revisit a particular place so that you can provide concrete and sensory details for your readers. Refer to the storyboarding, web diagram, and plot flow charts in the “Organizing” section above to further develop your draft.

Another Way to Draft the Literacy Narrative

Read the literacy narrative by American author and educator Helen Keller (1880–1968). An Alabama native, Keller lost both sight and hearing after a serious illness as a young child. The selection relates a transformational literacy moment in her life, when Anne Sullivan (1866–1936), Keller’s teacher, helps her understand the connection between hand-spelled words and physical items. Keller’s literacies, along with heroic support from her teacher, later enabled her to complete college and tour as an activist and lecturer.

public domain text The most important day I remember in all my life is the one on which my teacher, Anne Mansfield Sullivan, came to me. I am filled with wonder when I consider the immeasurable contrasts between the two lives which it connects. It was the third of March, 1887, three months before I was seven years old. end public domain text

annotated text The introduction sketches the boundaries of this literacy narrative by noting that the arrival of a teacher separated Keller’s life into two distinct parts. end annotated text

public domain text On the afternoon of that eventful day, I stood on the porch, dumb, expectant. I guessed vaguely from my mother’s signs and from the hurrying to and fro in the house that something unusual was about to happen, so I went to the door and waited on the steps. The afternoon sun penetrated the mass of honeysuckle that covered the porch, and fell on my upturned face. My fingers lingered almost unconsciously on the familiar leaves and blossoms which had just come forth to greet the sweet southern spring. I did not know what the future held of marvel or surprise for me. Anger and bitterness had preyed upon me continually for weeks and a deep languor had succeeded this passionate struggle. end public domain text

annotated text This paragraph helps establish the problem to be resolved in this short narrative: Keller is “dumb” but “expectant.” Additionally, the three characters in this section have been introduced—mother, teacher, and Keller herself—though the audience has few details yet about any of them. The author provides some sensory details in this paragraph, however, including her mother’s movements, the afternoon sun, and the tactile feeling of the honeysuckle. end annotated text

public domain text Have you ever been at sea in a dense fog, when it seemed as if a tangible white darkness shut you in, and the great ship, tense and anxious, groped her way toward the shore with plummet and sounding-line, and you waited with beating heart for something to happen? I was like that ship before my education began, only I was without compass or sounding-line, and had no way of knowing how near the harbour was. “Light! give me light!” was the wordless cry of my soul, and the light of love shone on me in that very hour. end public domain text

annotated text When Keller’s autobiography was originally written, the audience was readers of the Ladies’ Home Journal , a monthly magazine popular with homemakers; Keller’s autobiography was published in monthly installments. Keller appeals to this audience with her allusions to Judeo-Christian imagery and an evocative writing style. While her wording may seem a bit overdone today, such phrasing would have been familiar to her contemporary readers. A year later, in 1903, Keller’s story was published as a book and expanded to a much wider audience. end annotated text

public domain text I felt approaching footsteps, I stretched out my hand as I supposed to my mother. Some one took it, and I was caught up and held close in the arms of her who had come to reveal all things to me, and, more than all things else, to love me. end public domain text

annotated text The subject of love often appears in the literacy narrative genre, whether love of a certain skill or pastime or love for a relative or teacher who taught a certain literacy. end annotated text

public domain text The morning after my teacher came she led me into her room and gave me a doll. The little blind children at the Perkins Institution had sent it and Laura Bridgman had dressed it; but I did not know this until afterward. When I had played with it a little while, Miss Sullivan slowly spelled into my hand the word “d-o-l-l.” I was at once interested in this finger play and tried to imitate it. When I finally succeeded in making the letters correctly I was flushed with childish pleasure and pride. Running downstairs to my mother I held up my hand and made the letters for doll. I did not know that I was spelling a word or even that words existed; I was simply making my fingers go in monkey-like imitation. In the days that followed I learned to spell in this uncomprehending way a great many words, among them pin, hat, cup and a few verbs like sit, stand and walk. But my teacher had been with me several weeks before I understood that everything has a name. end public domain text

annotated text With the introduction of finger spelling, this paragraph and the next present the rising action building toward the climax of this story. end annotated text

public domain text One day, while I was playing with my new doll, Miss Sullivan put my big rag doll into my lap also, spelled “d-o-l-l” and tried to make me understand that “d-o-l-l” applied to both. Earlier in the day we had had a tussle over the words “m-u-g” and “w-a-t-e-r.” Miss Sullivan had tried to impress it upon me that “m-u-g” is mug and that “w-a-t-e-r” is water, but I persisted in confounding the two. In despair she had dropped the subject for the time, only to renew it at the first opportunity. I became impatient at her repeated attempts and, seizing the new doll, I dashed it upon the floor. I was keenly delighted when I felt the fragments of the broken doll at my feet. Neither sorrow nor regret followed my passionate outburst. I had not loved the doll. In the still, dark world in which I lived there was no strong sentiment or tenderness. I felt my teacher sweep the fragments to one side of the hearth, and I had a sense of satisfaction that the cause of my discomfort was removed. She brought me my hat, and I knew I was going out into the warm sunshine. This thought, if a wordless sensation may be called a thought, made me hop and skip with pleasure. end public domain text

annotated text In Keller’s “still, dark world,” she offers little indication of setting, giving the audience only glimpses of her surroundings: honeysuckle, a house with interior stairs, and a hearth in her teacher’s room. Because she could not converse at the time, the only dialogue in this story appears in the form of the finger-spelled words. Plot tensions rise with Keller’s action of breaking the doll. end annotated text

public domain text We walked down the path to the well-house, attracted by the fragrance of the honeysuckle with which it was covered. Some one was drawing water and my teacher placed my hand under the spout. As the cool stream gushed over one hand she spelled into the other the word water , first slowly, then rapidly. I stood still, my whole attention fixed upon the motions of her fingers. Suddenly I felt a misty consciousness as of something forgotten—a thrill of returning thought; and somehow the mystery of language was revealed to me. I knew then that “w-a-t-e-r” meant the wonderful cool something that was flowing over my hand. That living word awakened my soul, gave it light, hope, joy, set it free! There were barriers still, it is true, but barriers that could in time be swept away. end public domain text

annotated text Keller’s literacy in finger spelling not only laid the foundation for her future literacies in reading, writing, and speaking but also provided her foundational access to language itself. This paragraph provides the climax of this story as well as the resolution for the problem introduced earlier; having been introduced to language, Keller is no longer “dumb” (though she cannot yet speak). end annotated text

public domain text I left the well-house eager to learn. Everything had a name, and each name gave birth to a new thought. As we returned to the house every object which I touched seemed to quiver with life. That was because I saw everything with the strange, new sight that had come to me. On entering the door I remembered the doll I had broken. I felt my way to the hearth and picked up the pieces. I tried vainly to put them together. Then my eyes filled with tears; for I realized what I had done, and for the first time I felt repentance and sorrow. end public domain text

public domain text I learned a great many new words that day. I do not remember what they all were; but I do know that mother, father, sister, teacher were among them—words that were to make the world blossom for me, “like Aaron’s rod, with flowers.” It would have been difficult to find a happier child than I was as I lay in my crib at the close of that eventful day and lived over the joys it had brought me, and for the first time longed for a new day to come. end public domain text

annotated text The final two paragraphs offer falling action following the dramatic climax. end annotated text

Consider the ways in which Douglass’s account and Keller’s account are stylistically similar and different. Both use figurative language—“bread of knowledge”—and make allusions to the Christian tradition. However, Douglass uses dialogue to illustrate a social disparity, whereas Keller’s transformation and her language are largely internal. You should make use of the strategies that best fit your own literacy narrative as shown in Table 3.3 .

Peer Review: Giving Specific Praise and Constructive Feedback

Although the writing process does not always occur in a prescribed sequence (you can move among steps of the process in a variety of ways), participating in peer review is a necessary part of the writing process. Having the response and feedback of an outside reader can help you shape your writing into work that makes you proud. A peer review occurs when someone at your level (a peer) offers an evaluation of your writing. Instructors aid in this process by giving you and your peers judgment criteria and guidelines to follow, and the feedback of the reader should help you revise your writing before your instructor evaluates it and offers a grade.

When given the opportunity to engage in a peer review activity, use the following steps to provide your peers with effective, evidence-based feedback for their writing.

• Review all the criteria and guidelines for the assignment.
• Read the writing all the way through carefully before offering any feedback.
• Read the peer review exercise, tool, or instrument provided by the instructor.
• Apply and complete the peer review exercise while rereading the work.
• In what ways are the organization and coherence of the narrative logical and clear so that you can follow events?
• What, if anything, do you not understand or need further explanation about?
• What do you want to know more about?

Following these steps will give your reading the necessary context and situate your feedback within the criteria and guidelines of the assignment. This process will be critical to the revision process for your peer. In addition, reading and evaluating the work of another, and using the criteria and guidelines for that assignment, will strengthen your writing skills and help you when you revise your own work.

Before you can engage in a successful peer review exercise, you must develop a first draft and carefully read it to determine whether you need to make any of these changes.

• On a global, or structural, level, do you need to insert material, delete tangents, or rearrange some sections? Make the changes necessary to strengthen the coherence of your draft as whole
• On a local, or surface, level, check for grammar, punctuation, and capitalization errors.

After you have done a thorough check of your own work, you are ready to share the draft of your literacy narrative with a peer review partner or group. Depending on the guidance of your instructor, you may use a peer review activity such as the one provided in Table 3.4 to evaluate the literacy narrative and provide feedback to your partner or group members.

Guided Peer Review Activity

After you and your partner have completed the written guided exercise, spend some time talking about the elements of the essay and the feedback that you are giving one another. Talk through the suggestions, and ask questions about issues that arise during your assessment of one another’s writing.

Revising: Adding and Deleting Information

After you have completed the peer review exercise and received the related constructive feedback, you are ready to revise your literacy narrative in preparation for submission to your instructor for grading and a possible publication venue. (See “ Spotlight on . . . the Digital Archive of Literacy Narratives (DALN) . ”) The peer review exercise guided you and your partner or group members through a thorough assessment of your narratives. If you are not able to participate in peer review, make an appointment with your campus writing center to receive similar feedback. After getting responses from peers or the writing center, the next step is to take that feedback and make changes to your draft.

Look at the criteria in the first row of the peer review chart above, and then look at the evidence for that criteria that your partner listed. Does your reviewer’s understanding of the parts of your essay match your own? Where are the disconnects between what you intended for a section of your writing and what your reviewer has read and understood? These points of disconnect are good places to begin your revisions. Your peer reviewers represent your audience, so if they experience some misunderstandings in the reading of your narrative, you will want to make changes to clarify your writing.

Imagine you have written a literacy narrative in which you discuss the difficulty of learning to read music. Imagine the opening paragraph contains the following sentence: “I have always had a hard time reading music.” Your peer reviewer might list in column 2, for the first criterion on engaging identity, that you read music, and that is all. Such a brief and limited assessment might lead your partner to suggest in column 3 that you strengthen your identity by answering the following questions:

• When and why did you begin trying to learn to read music?
• Do you come from a musical background?
• Did you have a music reading teacher, or are you self-taught?
• What are your specific challenges in reading music?

During the discussion after the written peer review, you might share the details of your learning to play the piano: that you were five years old and that your grandmother was your teacher. Your revision for this opening paragraph might then include a sentence such as the following: “I have struggled to read music since I began playing piano at five years old, when my grandmother, our church musician, gave me my first lesson.” This process demonstrates the way in which the peer review should lead to substantive change and revision in your writing.

You will want to read and discuss the details of the evidence (column 2) and suggestions (column 3) for each of the above criteria (column 1) with your peer review partner. On the basis of your partner’s assessment—and your own judgment, of course—make any necessary revisions before submitting your literacy narrative for grading. The more time you take to go through this process, the more developed and comprehensive your writing will be. Some people may feel anxious about having others read their work, but the scenario provided above demonstrates the valuable ways in which a preliminary reading audience can help improve the narrative.

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201 Literacy Essay Topics & Examples

If you’ve found this article, you probably need good literacy topics to choose from. We’ve got a whole collection of them for high school and college students.

🏆 Best Literacy Topic Ideas & Essay Examples

👍 good literacy essay topics, 📃 interesting literacy research topics, 🔍 good research topics about literacy, ⭐ simple & easy literacy essay titles, ❓ research questions about literacy.

Our IvyPanda team has gathered this list of literacy topics for research papers and essays. Look through them to pick the best one to write about.

• The Importance of Literacy Essay (Critical Writing) Literacy is a skill that is never late to acquire because it is essential for education, employment, belonging to the community, and ability to help one’s children.
• The Concept and Importance of Information Literacy In fact, Information Literacy is far much better than these concepts because it stands ahead, gives the ability to think outside the box and not only gives the access to the knowledge but also the […]
• Literacy Definition and Importance Literacy is the process of learning whereby an individual gains the ability to understand and convey written information, gain new skills from the information, teach those skills and apply the acquired knowledge and skills for […]
• Multi-Literacy, Its Types and Characteristics Thus, students are to be taught not only literacy skills but also the identification of alterations in the patterns of meaning depending on the context. For instance, they are to be aware of the main […]
• Visual Literacy: Definition and Impact Both Dondis and Kennedy agree that visual literacy enhances meaning and understanding of what one sees and the way one lives.
• Hypodermic Syringe Model and Media Literacy A person’s media competence can be developed starting from an early age, and it is the responsibility of parents and teachers to control media influence on children and teach them to use mass media to […]
• Literacy Development in Personal Experience The author encouraged me to use writing as a medium to express ideas and knowledge in a way that I would want it to be presented to me. A significant step towards the improvement of […]
• Thematic Cross-Curricular Approach Toward Literacy Learning It has been recommended for schools to pay closer attention to the needs of teachers in planning a thematic curriculum and facilitate the establishment of policies that will help support teachers and their students in […]
• Defining Literacy Concept The final type of literacy is health literacy that evaluates how well one can comprehend and use health-related information to make health-related decisions.
• The Connection between Literacy, Education and New media This relationship is viewed to continue growing stronger as more educational institutions incorporate the use of new media in the literacy development and educational practices.
• Informal Reading Inventory as Literacy Assessment To assess the student’s ability to recognize words and determine the reading level, it is necessary to use graded word lists and graded text passages to conduct the informal reading inventory.
• How Information Literacy Affects Nursing Informatics in the 21st Century With the discovery of technology and the availability of applications that supports healthcare, there has been a positive shift in information literacy. In conclusion, nursing informatics has been one of the best ways of supporting […]
• Retelling as a Literacy Assessment Retelling is the effective tool to assess the students’ comprehension of the text while reading with references to understanding the order of events and key points of the story.
• Archetypes in Lyrics: Finding Literacy in Song This turn of the story is unexpected because the text of the first two verses is cheerful, and the motive and melody of the composition have a fast and joyful mood.
• Role of Teachers in Literacy Education The current essay shows why a qualified teacher is critical in literacy programs and examines three factors that can improve student outcomes. There is a large variety of approaches, techniques, and strategies that can improve […]
• The What’s Hot in Literacy Survey Results As a future teacher, I would like to express solidarity with the report’s authors and the topics they covered, especially considering that not all children have at least a primary education to develop literacy. This […]
• Reading and Literacy of the Students In order to motivate the students so that they may be engaged for the rest of the day, I begin the class with a general discussion of the latest issue that is making headlines either […]
• Indian Women’s Technology Access and Literacy Nevertheless, the gender divide in technological access is substantially lower in the developed countries. Leggon stated, “the divide is more than as issue of access to technology; it is also an issue of use and […]
• Children’s Literature in Literacy Education The primary aim of the paper is to provide the in-depth analysis regarding the role of the children’s literature in the literacy education.
• Multicultural Literacy: Patricia Polacco and Roald Dahl As the authors explain, it was during her life in this farm that she heard amazing stories about her roots and the time line of her peoples.
• Financial Literacy: The Importance in the Modern World Hence, it is necessary to learn the fundamentals of financial literacy from a young age in order to have a carefree retirement, emergency funds, and protection against inflation.
• “Clive Thompson on the New Literacy” by Clive Thompson Reasoning in the framework of the text, the readers notice a subsequent transition of the argument from “kids today cannot write” and “age of illiteracy” to “literacy revolution” and “write for an audience”.
• Literacy and Numeracy Demands Genre is used to describe the elemnts of communication channels or types, usually the types of texts and specific language, which emerged within a specific community.
• Corporate Media Consolidation: Everyday Media Literacy The third significant issue that arises with media consolidation is the intensification of censorship and the threat to broad media choice.
• Emergent Literacy and Reading Lesson Plans Topic or Unit of Study: Derivations Subject: Word recognition Grade/Level: 3 Grade: 3rd Subject: Language Arts Time: 30 minutes Amount: 10 students C1.
• Literacy Skills Development in Children In this essay, the focus will be to discuss the most appropriate approach for a teacher to facilitate the learning of literacy skills among children.
• Creating a Theory of Cultural Literacy It is uniformly, if not more, essential to be capable of communicating using the general idioms and references of the culture which people of that culture practice. It is thus essential that culture literacy is […]
• “See World” Thematic Unit: Literacy, Math, Science The thematic unit, which targets the development of reading literacy, focuses on repetition as the prerequisite for the development of correct pronunciation.
• The Literacy Night Activity Observation It is important to note that literacy is not limited only to reading and writing because there are key elements of being able to share ideas as well.
• Health Literacy in Hemodialysis Patients Namely, the guide written by the US Department of Health and Human Services focuses on the online aspect of distributing valuable information to the population groups.
• Media Literacy and Critical Thinking Skills Media literacy implies an understanding by the audience of the basic principles of the work of the media, including the search for the necessary information, understanding the principles of the formation of messages by different […]
• Media Literacy Amongst Children To equip children and the young generation with relevant knowledge and provide them with the necessary tools to understand the present media landscape and be critical informers.
• Important Moment in Literacy Development Journey My inability to understand became sore when my parents and teachers determined that I needed to remain in the second grade to improve my comprehension skills.
• Health Literacy in the Modern Digital Age Although the dynamic of doctor-patient interaction changed due to the abundance of online resources, its downside may be the spread of false and scientifically unsupported information, resulting in damage to people’s health.
• Health Literacy: Using Patient Portals Aside from needs assessments, I would create teaching materials to provide the staff with ideas on how to offer accommodations for low- and medium-literacy portal users.
• Importance of Health Literacy for Human Health Thus, the paper addresses the lack of attention to the public sector and the absence of innovative approaches in the administration of the policies.
• Development of Emergent Literacy in Young ESL Learners In the context of the present-day settings, when communication with strangers is reduced to a minimum due to the threat of the COVID-19, the introduction of digital tools needs to be tested as the method […]
• Culturally Sensitive Nurses Teaching Health Literacy When patients from different cultures have a problem understanding healthcare practices, nurses have a role in explaining to them the diagnosis and treatment in a way that acknowledges their cultural needs.
• Technological Literacy and Technical Fluency Tyler argues that technological literacy is the ability to use technology, while fluency in technology is a deep understanding of it and the future it brings to society.
• Media Literacy Research: Analysis of the Issue In the process of research, I have significantly expanded my ability to access and analyze media messages as well as to use the power of information to communicate and make a difference in the world.
• Implementation of the Health Literacy Programs Health Literacy Online Resource is especially vital because it offers detailed instructions on how to perform the client-oriented digital design of health-related websites. Some of the health literacy terms seem to be obvious, and because […]
• Low Health Literacy in Edison Township The prevalence of these outcomes is based on the level of health literacy within a community attributed to the existing social interventions.
• Project Proposal on Budgeting: An Individual’s Economic Literacy Purchasing this device is a long-time dream of mine, as it will allow me to pursue creativity, view media content, and feel more confident in my daily life; in addition, I expect that the iPad […]
• Aspects of Literacy Establishment Alphabet awareness is the ability to identify letters from the alphabet, which is related to writing and understanding letter sounds. Lack of alphabet awareness may prevent the development of writing skills and interfere with understanding […]
• Clinical Field Experience: Integrating Creative Arts and Literacy Formative assessment is critical for the identification of the gaps students may have and the material they may have failed to cover properly.
• Health Literacy and Patient Education The Internet’s accessibility made various types of health information available for any person, and many consumers developed a habit to check the online sources for symptoms or primarily help before reaching out to a healthcare […]
• The NP Core Competency of Technology and Information Literacy I advised him to consult a physician, and my use of EHRs appeared to be helpful because it allowed the physician to access patient data easily and confirm the diagnosis of hypertension.
• Literacy Bags as a Useful Pedagogical Tool The use of literacy bags addresses family involvement, instilling a love of learning, and controlling homeschooling. The contents of the bag depending on the topic being taught and the teacher’s intentions.
• Family Literacy Night Parents ensure that children develop positive, nurturing relationships with adults and have better opportunities to initiate and engage in conversations.
• Health Literacy: Strategies to Minimize Barriers In the training of a medical worker, the role of studying natural science and clinical disciplines is undeniable, but the ability of employees to master their speech well, their ability to listen and hear, and […]
• Media Violence and Importance of Media Literacy Media literacy is the public’s ability to access, decode, evaluate and transmit a message from media. Improved media literacy and education will enable the responsible consumption of information.
• Strategies for Teaching Literacy in a Secondary Classroom: Annotated Bibliography Beforehand, the authors discuss potential obstacles, including disabilities, a cycle of failure, and the absence of motivation, and provide a socio-linguistic background to the literacy acquisition process.
• Meeting Small Group’s Literacy Needs One peculiarity of this approach to lesson organization is that it offers minimal opportunities for the differentiation of instruction, and it is reasonable to give preference to this approach when introducing concepts that are totally […]
• Emergent Literacy: How to Make Your Child’s Life Easier? While in the womb, the fetus remembers the rhythm of language, hears the first sounds, and tries to interpret them. The key to this approach is the recognition that the language is not discrete, which […]
• Phonological and Phonemic Awareness and Literacy Development Simultaneously, phonemic awareness is a more advanced understanding of language, the next level of phonological awareness, when a person can identify and manage the smallest units of speech, the phoneme.
• Information Literacy and Power in Business The information is complete when all the data and associated context relevant for the problem is available. Information is crucial in determining business/organization success, success factors are determined from the data and context.
• Models of Information Literacy for Business Report Finally by the end of the lesson the learner should be able to obtain new knowledge in the use of literacy information.
• Literacy and Numeracy in the Geography Subject Area In the given sample, the student, Pat, demonstrates the basic understanding of the topic, and her skills seem to be poor. The presented sequence of lessons is designed to improve students’ numeracy and literacy skills […]
• Enhancing Health Literacy for People With Type 2 Diabetes Two professionals, Andrew Long, a professor in the school of heath care in the University of Leeds, and Tina Gambling, senior lecturer in the school of health care studies from the University of Cardiff, conducted […]
• The Importance of Health Literacy In essence, health literacy is very important to all stakeholders in health care settings. Health literacy is one of the most common issues in healthcare settings.
• Assessing Health Literacy in Patients Health literacy is critical since, at any time in the patient’s life, they must discover, comprehend, and use health services and information.
• Health Literacy: Does It Make a Difference? The article investigates how health literacy contributes to the general development of the nursing practice. The article continues by outlining how health literacy is of benefit to healthcare.
• Literacy Demands in the Australian English Syllabus The curriculum also requires learners to “explore the difference in the use of English both at home and school, depending on the relationship between the speakers”.
• Story of Media Literacy Overview Consequently, it is imperative for students and people, in general, to consume media content objectively and to analyze the message portrayed in the news.
• Thinking, Learning, and Literacy in the Internet Age However, one can present a counterargument to the given statement by claiming that it is not reading that is negatively affected by the web, but rather the style or format of the activity.
• Health Literacy and Access to Healthcare Services: Problems, Interventions, and Suggestions for Improvements Unfortunately, due to the emergence of new health threats and the lack of accessibility to healthcare, as well as the absence of basic health literacy in an upsettingly large number of the U.S.population, changes have […]
• Effects of Information Literacy on Scholarship, Practice and Leadership in Teaching Profession The first and the most obvious negative aspect of the introduction of information literacy into the field of SPL in the sphere of teaching profession is the abundance of sources and the search for the […]
• Emergent Literacy Skills in Children With Hearing Loss The research is stated to “learn more about the early development of literacy skills by examining changes over a typical school year for small children with hearing losses” specifically within the group of young children, […]
• Beginning Literacy Learner Study It does not amount to too much trouble for now, as he is able to perform the majority of the tasks and pass the majority of the tests with relative success.
• Philosophy of Literacy Instruction And, of course, the literacy educator needs to be critical of his work and seek opportunities for personal improvement Literacy educator needs to understand that reading and writing are social activities and that students should […]
• Literacy Studies: Teaching Writing In the context of second language writing several theories have been established; which are commonly the process theories and the genre theories.
• “Visual Literacy Theory” by Paul Messaris In its turn, this points out at the fallacious essence of Messaris’ idea that spatial intelligence is an objective category: “One of the clearest examples of spatial intelligence is the ability of movies to conjure […]
• Information Literacy in Public Safety Sector Professionals are supposed to be prepared by providing theories inform of public safety scholars and research did to understand them before availing the information to the public.
• Developing Children’s Language and Literacy Skills The culture of the society his family belongs to greatly influences how he imbibes the culture and how he expresses his developing personality.
• American Education System and Cultural Literacy In the recant past, he has become critical of the cognitive revolution and has explored for the construction of cultural psychology that weighs very much the factors like historical and social settings of the contributors.
• Literacy Theories in Action Emergent literacy is the term used to refer to the earliest period of a child’s literacy development, specifically the time between birth and when the child can read and write.
• “Literacy in Three Metaphors” by Sylvia Scribner The fundamental proposal presented by the author revolves around the thought that the main problem of literacy is the conceptualization and formulation of a proper education plan.
• Early Years Literacy: Analysis and Development The paper consists of three major parts: a description of a literacy event in which I participated, a detailed analysis of all the aspects of the event, implications for teaching, and a conclusion.
• Literacy Learning Across Diverse Contexts: Digestive System All of the four activities described in curriculum planning can be justified on the basis of their connection to the children’s age and experience.
• Disciplinary Literacy in a Content-Area Classroom The purpose of this paper is to give a detailed overview of the concept of disciplinary literacy and the most appropriate approaches for a content-area classroom.
• “What Is Literacy? The Power of a Definition” by Keefe & Copeland In the first section of the article, the researchers describe some of the conflicting beliefs about the definition of literacy. The article is significant to education and literacy instruction as it shows the need for […]
• Pandemic Flu: Health Literacy The higher the readability score, the easier it is to percept the ideas reflected in the text. The higher this score, the better the understanding of a document by the reader is.
• Literacy Development in Five Stages The question that children tend to ask during the stage of awareness and exploration are the main signifiers of the literacy development process being launched.
• Emerging Literacy and Assessment in Education Finally, the application of assessments in early education will inform a teacher about the gaps in a student’s knowledge system and the strategies that can be used to fill these gaps.
• Emerging Literacy Class: Expectations and Objectives Therefore, learning how to locate emerging literacy and use it to prompt the evolution of one’s language skills is central to the successful development of an individual.
• Digital Literacy: Gender and Socio-Economic Aspects Thereby, digital literacy is defined by the opportunity to access information technology and Internet resources, based on the culture, economic, and social development of a country.
• Political Media Literacy Program The focus on social media is especially crucial as these platforms do not have many rules and tools to check the authenticity of the posted information.
• Reading Literacy Development and Instruction In the overviewed classroom, the evaluation of the literacy skills of the students was sustained by offering the learners to complete a multi-discipline test, which matches the Common Core State Literacy Standard. The outcomes of […]
• The Literacy Principal: Leading, Supporting and Assessing One of the ways is to pay attention to the rhyming, as the students will be able to find similarities in words and sounds.
• Literacy Environment for Young Learners This paper examines the arrangement of objects in the classroom and the required teaching skills that enhance literacy in young learners.
• Digital Literacy Promotion at a Community Event In the course of the event, the attendees will be explained the basics of how the new technology will help learners from Pre-Kindergarten through 12th-grade students in school districts and adult learners at the community […]
• Shared Reading as a Literacy Strategy Reading strategy involves determining mental actions that learners take when they are reading to assist them to build and maintain the meaning of what they would be reading.
• Rebecca’s Literacy Development: Non-Cognitive Aspects As to the non-cognitive aspects of the student’s literacy, the girl loves to read and uses every opportunity for it though is embarrassed to read aloud to the others.
• Digital Literacy and Higher Education in Knowledge Economy Altbach, Reisberg, and Rumbley argue that the “phenomenon of massification ” is what has led to a major revolution in university education.
• Literacy Theory and Practice in Teaching Reading Due to the fact that the English language prevails in the sphere of international business and technology, it is important for students to have a sufficient command of language.
• Literacy for the 21st Century: A Balanced Approach The authors describe the lesson developed by Mrs Firpo, who illustrates a set of techniques that can help children see the connection between graphemes and sounds. I think that the methods and ideas of Mrs […]
• Home-Based Literacy Program and Educators The selection and training of home visitors should be based on the ability of these teachers to handle children and their families.
• Literacy Challenges at the Postsecondary Level In this view, the article asserts that student learning is less effective when classes are large and the material taught is new to the learners. The feelings of anonymity and lack of self-directed learning on […]
• Literacy Standards and Reading Instruction Theory Besides the development of efficient teaching strategies, the recent programs are also oriented on the supporting students and ensuring them with effective reading activities.
• Active Literacy Across the Curriculum In addition, the author also expressed the idea about the importance of the literacy mapping a process that would help educational authorities to keep track of the consistency with which literacy is taught in schools, […]
• Individual Literacy Narrative The purpose of this narrative is to describe how I have managed to develop this kind of literacy. The most outstanding observation is that various events and experiences have made it easier for me to […]
• Records of Literacy in Qin and Early Han Dynasties The main aim of the text is, according to the author, to review the records of literacy among the lower orders during the Qin and early Han dynasties.
• Computer Literacy: Parents and Guardians Role Filtering and monitoring content on the internet is one of the most important roles that parents in the contemporary world should play, and it reveals that parents care about their children.
• Instructional Practices for Emergent Literacy Learners On the level of listening and speaking, the emergent literacy learner should be able to use language to express opinions related to the discussed topic, follow the directions given by the teacher when it comes […]
• School Literacy Environment for Younger Students For Birth to Pre-K group, the classroom environment will be organized to engage students in physical, emotional, and cognitive activities. In K to Grade 3, the students will be driven towards reading fluency and reading […]
• “Charlotte’s Web” by White for Literacy Development The task of a teacher is to keep the learners interested and motivated. On the whole, literacy and language development is a complicated process.
• Literacy Strategies in a Social Studies Classroom It may help to put the text in a broader context and help relate the students’ knowledge about the author to the ideas given in the text.
• Effective Literacy Teaching in Multicultural Class The purpose of the proposed research is to explore, examine and analyze the issues and challenges that embed teacher education in the US, paying attention to the obstacles that limit the implementation of effective literacy […]
• Literacy and Numeracy Across the Curriculum Overall, it is clear that both literacy and numeracy can help societies all over the world to achieve a better future in the 21st century.
• Critical Literacy in Lambert’s Bellies Bear a Burden The text is accompanied by several images, most of which are included to illustrate the dynamics of change in women’s body measurements over the years, as well as a photograph of an obese woman to […]
• Literacy Education and the Workforce This has made organizations set aside a good fraction of their revenue to improve the literacy level of their employees to make them more productive.
• Literacy Coaching Cycle in Learning In an effective literacy coaching, literacy coach should make strategic class visits to access the level of delivery that teachers are attaining.
• Literacy Through iPads in Early Education In the article, Beschorner and Hutchison, note that in the 21st century, children gain access to written language very early due to the use of digital devices.
• Reading and Literacy: Teacher Education Program It is vital to understand that a teacher’s role is not only sharing knowledge with his or her students but also shaping their worldview and making them ready for life in an economically, culturally, and […]
• Population Literacy Skills in Arab Countries For the tables and the analysis, I chose the two years that were closer together, 2005 and 2009. First of all, after 2005 the internet actively started to win its popularity all around the world […]
• Literacy of Population in Arab Countries That is why this phenomenon can be taken as the main evidence of the problem of poverty peculiar for the majority of these states.
• Early Cochlear Implantation’s Impact on Literacy That way, the design suitable for this research is qualitative and narrative since the focus is the impressions of the quality of life and learning after the implantation.
• IT and Its Effect on Workplace Literacy In the last three decades, information technology in the form of information systems has revolutionized the business approach across the globe.
• Environmental Education and Literacy Program Although scholars and environmental experts are in agreement that environmental education plays a key role in assisting young people in comprehending the nature and complexity of environmental challenges and in developing their capacity to take […]
• Young Child’s Language and Literacy Development In addition, a work of literature on any social issue may influence how children respond to the demands of their learning environments. Taken together, the growing importance of literature in learning and children’s linguistic development […]
• Classroom Literacy: Interactions and Learning Approaches Vocabulary skills are important for improving literacy as well as the overall growth of the student in the classroom and outside classroom environment.
• Visual Literacy and Its Significance The definition of visual literacy provided in the book, in its turn, can be viewed as less restricting in terms of the perception of images by the representatives of different cultures. The use of visual […]
• Instruction and Literacy Development Methods To enhance the students’ learning activities and development of their literacy skills, it is possible to use such computer technologies as the computer software and electronic books at all the stages of learning because different […]
• Ocean Literacy and Exploration From the onset of “human-ocean interaction and exploration in the fifteenth century” and despite ocean being the largest feature of the earth, only 5% of the ocean is known.
• Balanced Literacy Institute and Teacher Cadre Another important and beneficial point of the training is that the material is selected with a unique understanding of the needs of students and teachers.
• Diverse Classrooms and Literacy The recruitment of a significant proportion of literacy teachers from various ethnic backgrounds is necessary to effectively address issues on language understanding and fluency in reading.
• Education Theories: Why Literacy Matters? By definition, literacy is “the ability and the willingness to use reading and writing to construct meaning from the printed text”. Literacy makes a positive contribution to the economic prosperity of an individual and promotes […]
• Technological Literacy Unit Plan Housing is a social issue that is always contained in the economic blueprints of different countries, however, the cost of buying a house is high and people who get locked out of the financing avenues […]
• English Literacy Lessons for Australian Students. When Theory Meets Practice Once a teacher introduces the concept of metacognition to the students, it will be easier to help the students link reading and writing: “Adding components of metacognition supports students in learning how to summarize and […]
• How Effective Teachers Support the Youngest Children’s Literacy Development? The effective teachers should be aware of the most common issues the youngest learners may face and understand the methods to address the issues.
• Balanced Literacy Program Introduction is as important, perhaps, even more to the flow of the class and positive atmosphere between the teacher and students.
• Factors that Influence Literacy Acquisition and Reading Achievement Finally, the paper will highlight some contrary arguments that tend to downplay the role of parents in children’s learning at home and at school.
• Expert Literacy Teachers: What Has Been Learned One of the key insights that I have gained in the process of learning about the role of the RTI in shaping the responsibilities and strategies of an expert literacy teacher concerns the fact that […]
• Conducting an Assessment: Students’ Progress in Mastering Literacy: What Needs to Be Improved Helping students acquire the basic literacy skills is one of the key tasks of a teacher, and the reading skills are at the top of the teacher’s priority list.
• Strategies to Support Balanced Literacy After the learners finish reading the story, the teacher should ask them to narrate their feelings and thoughts about the experience.
• Literacy Instruction for African American Students The research results state that the process of literacy instruction is hindered to an impressive degree by the misunderstandings between teachers and students due to the language issues.
• Problems of Reading and Literacy The article covers the how, what and when of the visual essays, experiences and how to teach them to improve reading and literacy. It is with no doubt that problems of reading and literacy are […]
• Early Literacy Development The literacy development is a concept related to acquisition of reading and writing skills. The problem of literacy development in preschool-aged children requires a specific approach to be taken and applied.
• Literacy Linguistic Usage Finally, it is vital to apply the findings on the relationships between language and identity in the practical sphere of learning and teaching languages.
• Issues of Children Literacy The best way to make parents and guardians aware of the importance of child literacy is to communicate to them the results of researches that have studied the relationship between early childhood literacy levels and […]
• Balanced Literacy Overview The book written by Margaret Haddix and entitled Dexter the Tough is concerned with quite a difficult period in the life of Dexter, the protagonist of the book.
• An Early Literacy Intervention The major implication of the study was that effective intervention programs have the capacity to close the gaps in early educational literacy.
• How Are Literacy, Fluency and Reading Comprehension Affected by Using Oral Reading Methods in the Classroom? Rasinski states that one of the most effective ways to assess a learner’s reading ability is for the instructor to listen to the learner reading.
• Promoting Literacy to Students: The Challenges and the Solutions Thus, basing the research on the theory of phonetic awareness, one can presume that the roots of low literacy rates are going to be found and that the most efficient means of improving literacy rates […]
• NELP Report: Impact of Shared-Reading Interventions on Young Children’s Literacy Skills In particular, the authors focus on the analysis of randomized control trial and quasiexperimental design with reference to the evaluation of the efficiency of the interventions with the results.
• Comprehensive Literacy Model The attention of students should be focused on the common roots of the vocabulary in use such as the suffixes and the prefixes.
• Literacy of women in Europe and Middle East Women’s leadership and women in the telecommunication businesses are some of the points that need to be put into consideration and women’s contribution to the economic opportunities that may affect each and every one of […]
• Financial Literacy: How Do Ordinary People Cope with Their Financial Tasks? The goal of the project was to examine the levels of financial literacy in ordinary citizens and their implications for financial literacy education.
• Literacy Development in Adults Barton and Hamilton and Purcell-Gates et al judge literacy, based on the ways in which literacy is used in real-life situations; the role of education in the development of literacy; and the importance of real-life […]
• Perspectives of Adult Literacy They argue that literacy is not an outcome of local practices since there are social structures and technology in the global society that affect the acquisition of literacy skills.
• Internet Effect on Education and Students’ Literacy Lots of people prefer real life communication in order to observe the emotions, to follow the reactions, to provide with some support, and, finally, to know for sure whom you are talking to.
• From the First Language Literacy to the Second Language Proficiency The above observation was also apparent in the study by Benseman, Sutton and Lander who explained that, the involvement of the learner in the teaching allows students to increase their use of first language literacy […]
• Literacy: Diagnosing Reading Skills, Reporting Progress & Outcome Data Assessment Tools Progress Diagnostic Outcome Individual or Group Assessment Additional Explanation of Use IRI X X I IRI are used with individual students to assess the progress and diagnose the development of definite reading […]
• New Service to Be Offered: Information Literacy Seminars for New Students In this view, the information literacy targets both librarians and students, as their relationships have a significant impact on the development of information literacy in a learning institution.
• SMS Technology and Its Effect on Literacy The use of SMS behind the screens of the cell phones and computers become a shield against engaging in conversations and this affects one’s ability to verbally communicate with others.
• Technological Access, Literacy and Fluency However, not all members of the community surrounding the University are technologically literate. To improve access to digital technology in Michigan Technological University and the surrounding areas, various measures should be put in place.
• Article Reflection about Literacy Reflecting on these four articles; ‘There is reading…and then there’s reading,’ ‘Taking literacy skills home,’ ‘The importance of the act of reading,’ and ‘the new literacy studies’ I cannot help but appreciate and celebrate the […]
• Violence and Adult Literacy Opportunities Literacy has significant implications for reducing violence against women, and this paper explores the reasons behind and solutions to continued illiteracy in adult women. The reasons behind the failure of literacy to reduce violence and […]
• Literacy Poses in Paulo Freire’s Philosophy The golden middle in adult literacy education is in being able to transform the theories and rules of language into the forms and meanings that are understandable to learners.
• Reading Commentary About Literacy Articles: What Does Literacy Mean? This paper tries to explain the reasons of low literacy in Canada and offers recommendations to improve the quality of workplace performance in the country.
• Children’s Literature for Literacy Children literature deserves lots of attention; it provides the reader with an opportunity to investigate the worlds of different people, analyze oneself, and comprehend each piece of information because of such features as a friendly […]
• Literacy Coaching in Modern Education The standard is also utilized by these individuals in assessment of the candidates and effectiveness’s of the program. The NCATE utilizes a criterion which is based on this standard in making decisions related to accreditation […]
• Modern theories about literacy The articles of Darville, Atwood and Hamilton provide the practical and theoretical evidence to support the efficiency of these new approaches to literacy; due to the accounts given by authors, one can estimate the true […]
• My Struggle for Literacy in America The main purpose of this presentation is to convince the audience that literacy is one of the skills that a person can and should develop.
• The Cornerstones to Early Literacy Displacement is the idea that language can be used to communicate on things not in the immediate environment. One unique feature of language is that children, growing up, can easily learn how to communicate in […]
• Marketing of New Services – Set up Information Literacy Talks for Mature An effort is made to discuss the potential customer base for these services and to evaluate strategies to create and manage relationships with all potential customers for the proposed services and communicating the service to […]
• Literacy Practices Inventory and With the advent of technology and the Internet, the concept of a community becomes effective irrespective of the members’ physical locations because they are not limited by the mode of communication or transportation.
• Culture, Literacy, and Learning: Taking Bloom in the Midst of the Whirlwind by Carol D. Lee She describes the way students respond to improved scheme and the way teachers modify the cultural background of the language or English arts program.
• Literacy in Young Children In this context, literacy is considered the possession of the ability to read and write. Lastly, the social angle shows that in most societies where there’s a modicum of literacy, young children embrace the education […]
• “Perspectives on Language and Literacy in Latino Families and Communities” by Ana Celia Zentella The review focuses on the socialization involved in the acquisition of the two languages. Parents are actively involved in the development of language and education.
• Reading and Literacy Statistics In order to examine the historical development of reading, it is necessary to refer to the analysis and definition of spoken language and human communication and consider reading a necessity to sharing and retaining information.
• Why Can Financial Advice Not Substitute for Financial Literacy?
• Does Financial Literacy Improve Financial Inclusion?
• How Does Economic Education Impact Economic Literacy?
• Why Do English Learners Struggle With Content Literacy?
• Why Has the Literacy Level in the United States Fallen in the Last Century?
• What Are the Politics of Literacy?
• Can Autocracy Promote Literacy?
• Does Education After Essential Literacy Matter in Terms of Our Jobs?
• Can Basic Maternal Literacy Skills Improve Infant Health Outcomes?
• How Would You Contribute to the Planning of Literacy Skills?
• Does Technology Affect Our Society Literacy Levels?
• Why Is the Need for Financial Literacy Comprehension Still Not Being Add?
• Can Financial Literacy Reduce Anxiety About Life in Old Age?
• What Determines Financial Literacy in Japan?
• Does Financial Education Impact Financial Literacy and Financial Behavior?
• Are Literacy Skills Associated With Young Adults’ Health in Africa?
• Is Social Media Helping Students Write Better?
• Are Temporal and Tonal Musical Skills Related to Phonological Awareness and Literacy Skills?
• How Does Health Literacy Affect Today’s World?
• Literacy, Children, and Community: What Are the Solutions?
• How Teachers Use Content Literacy?
• What Are Adolescents’ Perceptions of Health Literacy?
• What Explains the Gender Gap in Financial Literacy?
• How Does Texting Affect Literacy in Teenagers?
• Can Academic Standards Boost Literacy?
• Does Accelerated Reader Affect the Literacy of Students?
• How Literacy Shapes Technology?
• How Ordinary Consumers Make Complex Economic Decisions?
• What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy?
• How Does Social Background Affect the Acquisition of Language and Literacy?
• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

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IvyPanda . "201 Literacy Essay Topics & Examples." February 28, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/literacy-essay-topics/.

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Essay Writing: A complete guide for students and teachers

P LANNING, PARAGRAPHING AND POLISHING: FINE-TUNING THE PERFECT ESSAY

Essay writing is an essential skill for every student. Whether writing a particular academic essay (such as persuasive, narrative, descriptive, or expository) or a timed exam essay, the key to getting good at writing is to write. Creating opportunities for our students to engage in extended writing activities will go a long way to helping them improve their skills as scribes.

But, putting the hours in alone will not be enough to attain the highest levels in essay writing. Practice must be meaningful. Once students have a broad overview of how to structure the various types of essays, they are ready to narrow in on the minor details that will enable them to fine-tune their work as a lean vehicle of their thoughts and ideas.

In this article, we will drill down to some aspects that will assist students in taking their essay writing skills up a notch. Many ideas and activities can be integrated into broader lesson plans based on essay writing. Often, though, they will work effectively in isolation – just as athletes isolate physical movements to drill that are relevant to their sport. When these movements become second nature, they can be repeated naturally in the context of the game or in our case, the writing of the essay.

THE ULTIMATE NONFICTION WRITING TEACHING RESOURCE

• 270  pages of the most effective teaching strategies
• 50+   digital tools  ready right out of the box
• 75   editable resources  for student   differentiation  
• Loads of   tricks and tips  to add to your teaching tool bag
• All explanations are reinforced with  concrete examples.
• Links to  high-quality video  tutorials
• Clear objectives  easy to match to the demands of your curriculum

Planning an essay

The Boys Scouts’ motto is famously ‘Be Prepared’. It’s a solid motto that can be applied to most aspects of life; essay writing is no different. Given the purpose of an essay is generally to present a logical and reasoned argument, investing time in organising arguments, ideas, and structure would seem to be time well spent.

Given that essays can take a wide range of forms and that we all have our own individual approaches to writing, it stands to reason that there will be no single best approach to the planning stage of essay writing. That said, there are several helpful hints and techniques we can share with our students to help them wrestle their ideas into a writable form. Let’s take a look at a few of the best of these:

BREAK THE QUESTION DOWN: UNDERSTAND YOUR ESSAY TOPIC.

Whether students are tackling an assignment that you have set for them in class or responding to an essay prompt in an exam situation, they should get into the habit of analyzing the nature of the task. To do this, they should unravel the question’s meaning or prompt. Students can practice this in class by responding to various essay titles, questions, and prompts, thereby gaining valuable experience breaking these down.

Have students work in groups to underline and dissect the keywords and phrases and discuss what exactly is being asked of them in the task. Are they being asked to discuss, describe, persuade, or explain? Understanding the exact nature of the task is crucial before going any further in the planning process, never mind the writing process .

BRAINSTORM AND MIND MAP WHAT YOU KNOW:

Once students have understood what the essay task asks them, they should consider what they know about the topic and, often, how they feel about it. When teaching essay writing, we so often emphasize that it is about expressing our opinions on things, but for our younger students what they think about something isn’t always obvious, even to themselves.

Brainstorming and mind-mapping what they know about a topic offers them an opportunity to uncover not just what they already know about a topic, but also gives them a chance to reveal to themselves what they think about the topic. This will help guide them in structuring their research and, later, the essay they will write . When writing an essay in an exam context, this may be the only ‘research’ the student can undertake before the writing, so practicing this will be even more important.

RESEARCH YOUR ESSAY

The previous step above should reveal to students the general direction their research will take. With the ubiquitousness of the internet, gone are the days of students relying on a single well-thumbed encyclopaedia from the school library as their sole authoritative source in their essay. If anything, the real problem for our students today is narrowing down their sources to a manageable number. Students should use the information from the previous step to help here. At this stage, it is important that they:

●      Ensure the research material is directly relevant to the essay task

●      Record in detail the sources of the information that they will use in their essay

●      Engage with the material personally by asking questions and challenging their own biases

●      Identify the key points that will be made in their essay

●      Group ideas, counterarguments, and opinions together

●      Identify the overarching argument they will make in their own essay.

Once these stages have been completed the student is ready to organise their points into a logical order.

WRITING YOUR ESSAY

There are a number of ways for students to organize their points in preparation for writing. They can use graphic organizers , post-it notes, or any number of available writing apps. The important thing for them to consider here is that their points should follow a logical progression. This progression of their argument will be expressed in the form of body paragraphs that will inform the structure of their finished essay.

The number of paragraphs contained in an essay will depend on a number of factors such as word limits, time limits, the complexity of the question etc. Regardless of the essay’s length, students should ensure their essay follows the Rule of Three in that every essay they write contains an introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion.

Generally speaking, essay paragraphs will focus on one main idea that is usually expressed in a topic sentence that is followed by a series of supporting sentences that bolster that main idea. The first and final sentences are of the most significance here with the first sentence of a paragraph making the point to the reader and the final sentence of the paragraph making the overall relevance to the essay’s argument crystal clear. 

Though students will most likely be familiar with the broad generic structure of essays, it is worth investing time to ensure they have a clear conception of how each part of the essay works, that is, of the exact nature of the task it performs. Let’s review:

Common Essay Structure

Introduction: Provides the reader with context for the essay. It states the broad argument that the essay will make and informs the reader of the writer’s general perspective and approach to the question.

Body Paragraphs: These are the ‘meat’ of the essay and lay out the argument stated in the introduction point by point with supporting evidence.

Conclusion: Usually, the conclusion will restate the central argument while summarising the essay’s main supporting reasons before linking everything back to the original question.

ESSAY WRITING PARAGRAPH WRITING TIPS

●      Each paragraph should focus on a single main idea

●      Paragraphs should follow a logical sequence; students should group similar ideas together to avoid incoherence

●      Paragraphs should be denoted consistently; students should choose either to indent or skip a line

●      Transition words and phrases such as alternatively , consequently , in contrast should be used to give flow and provide a bridge between paragraphs.

HOW TO EDIT AN ESSAY

Students shouldn’t expect their essays to emerge from the writing process perfectly formed. Except in exam situations and the like, thorough editing is an essential aspect in the writing process. 

Often, students struggle with this aspect of the process the most. After spending hours of effort on planning, research, and writing the first draft, students can be reluctant to go back over the same terrain they have so recently travelled. It is important at this point to give them some helpful guidelines to help them to know what to look out for. The following tips will provide just such help: 

One Piece at a Time: There is a lot to look out for in the editing process and often students overlook aspects as they try to juggle too many balls during the process. One effective strategy to combat this is for students to perform a number of rounds of editing with each focusing on a different aspect. For example, the first round could focus on content, the second round on looking out for word repetition (use a thesaurus to help here), with the third attending to spelling and grammar.

Sum It Up: When reviewing the paragraphs they have written, a good starting point is for students to read each paragraph and attempt to sum up its main point in a single line. If this is not possible, their readers will most likely have difficulty following their train of thought too and the paragraph needs to be overhauled.

Let It Breathe: When possible, encourage students to allow some time for their essay to ‘breathe’ before returning to it for editing purposes. This may require some skilful time management on the part of the student, for example, a student rush-writing the night before the deadline does not lend itself to effective editing. Fresh eyes are one of the sharpest tools in the writer’s toolbox.

Read It Aloud: This time-tested editing method is a great way for students to identify mistakes and typos in their work. We tend to read things more slowly when reading aloud giving us the time to spot errors. Also, when we read silently our minds can often fill in the gaps or gloss over the mistakes that will become apparent when we read out loud.

Phone a Friend: Peer editing is another great way to identify errors that our brains may miss when reading our own work. Encourage students to partner up for a little ‘you scratch my back, I scratch yours’.

Use Tech Tools: We need to ensure our students have the mental tools to edit their own work and for this they will need a good grasp of English grammar and punctuation. However, there are also a wealth of tech tools such as spellcheck and grammar checks that can offer a great once-over option to catch anything students may have missed in earlier editing rounds.

Putting the Jewels on Display: While some struggle to edit, others struggle to let go. There comes a point when it is time for students to release their work to the reader. They must learn to relinquish control after the creation is complete. This will be much easier to achieve if the student feels that they have done everything in their control to ensure their essay is representative of the best of their abilities and if they have followed the advice here, they should be confident they have done so.

WRITING CHECKLISTS FOR ALL TEXT TYPES

ESSAY WRITING video tutorials

English Writing Guide

• Literacy Narrative
• Visual Analysis
• Rhetorical Analysis
• Argument Research Paper
• The Writing Handbook
• Using the Library

Attribution

This guide is adapted from the Writing Guide with Handbook by OpenStax .

What is a literacy narrative?

• The Writing Guide: Literacy Narrative Link to the online, interactive chapter on Literacy Narrative.
• Literacy Narrative Chapter 3 from The Writing Guide As a PDF for downloading or printing.

Topics Covered

• Identity and Expression
• Literacy Narrative Trailblazer: Tara Westover
• Glance at Genre: The Literacy Narrative
• Annotated Sample Reading: from Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass
• Writing Process: Tracing the Beginnings of Literacy
• Editing Focus: Sentence Structure
• Evaluation: Self-Evaluating
• Spotlight on … The Digital Archive of Literacy Narratives (DALN)
• Portfolio: A Literacy Artifact
• Lecture Slides for Literacy Narrative As a PDF for downloading or printing.
• How to Write a Literacy Narrative Guide with exercises to assist you in writing a literacy narrative.
• Digital Archive of Literacy Narratives The DALN is an open public resource made up of stories from people just like you about their experiences learning to read, write, and generally communicate with the world around them.
• Next: Visual Analysis >>
• Last Updated: Jan 12, 2024 7:36 AM
• URL: https://library.jeffersonstate.edu/Writing-Guide-OpenStax

Universalizing basic literacy: how to get every child reading?

Michael crawford, maria barron, marcela gutierrez bernal, elaine ding.

Global trends, including disruptive technology, climate change, and rapidly evolving demographics, continuously redefine the skills that learners need to develop today to become productive workers and engaged citizens tomorrow. 

Yet some things do not change: to be ready for the future, all children need to acquire foundational skills, which are the gateway to other skills and subjects. The most fundamental of these skills is literacy.  

Before one can read to learn, one must learn to read. Reading with comprehension is arguably the most important skill a child needs to learn in their early school years. Without basic reading proficiency, children will most likely fail to become numerate and are at higher risk of dropping out of school altogether – unlikely to simply “catch-up” over time . Higher levels of behavioral self-regulation are also associated with higher levels of language and literacy . 

Despite more students attending primary school than ever before, a shockingly high number of them fail to read by the time they graduate. 53% of children in low- and middle-income countries are unable to read and understand a simple text at age ten — they are known as the “learning poor”. The rate is much higher across Sub-Saharan Africa, where Learning Poverty is a staggering 87%. Despite multiple interventions to improve quality of schooling across countries, at the current rate of improvement, 43% of children will still be Learning Poor by 2030.    

The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the learning crisis, especially for the poor. Despite governments investing heavily in distance education during the pandemic, students’ learning will surely decline as a result of school closures. Estimations coming out of Chile paint a dark picture: if face-to-face classes do not restart in the remainder of the school year, students in the country could lose on average, 88% of their expected learning for the year . The impact is largest for students of families from the lowest income quintile, who will lose 95% of the learning they were expected to acquire this year. Worldwide, more than 7 million students are at risk of dropping out of school due to the decline in family income alone. Now, more than ever, all children need to acquire foundational skills like literacy. 

How to universalize foundational literacy? While high-income countries like Finland, Hong Kong, Japan, Poland, Russia, and Sweden have learning poverty rates below 2%, lower-middle-income countries like Vietnam have also gone from being far from achieving universal primary a generation ago, to virtually eliminating learning poverty today (Vietnam’s learning poverty rate is 1.1%). What are these countries doing right?

1.    Assure political and technical commitment to making all children literate It starts with governments and education authorities building policies committed to the goal that all children must learn to read and adopting targets to make this a reality for all children by the end of primary school. Assessments – at all levels – must align to these reading targets and monitor progress toward them.

An interesting example is the municipality of Sobral in the state of Ceará , one of the poorest states in Brazil. Reform started by the late 90s in Sobral when political leaders committed to the goal of having every child reading and writing by the end of second grade. Sustained commitment and leadership, alongside the use of assessments, a focused curriculum, empowering school management, and motivating teachers were the most important ingredients of Sobral’s reform. By 2017, Sobral ranked first among all municipalities in the index that measures education quality in Brazil in both primary and lower secondary education.

2.    Ensure effective literacy instruction by supporting teachers Teachers need to be supported to obtain the knowledge and skills necessary to teach reading. In many settings, this can begin with detailed and highly structured teaching guides for literacy instruction (to provide an extra support to teachers who want it). It also means providing specific and practical professional development, which focuses not only on what to teach, but how to teach it. Moreover, the provision of individualized feedback to teachers on an on-going basis has also shown to have positive impacts on student learning. In South Africa for example, specialized reading coaches who monitored teachers and provided ongoing support led to improvements in student reading proficiency double that of one-off mass trainings conducted outside of the classroom.

3.    Provide at least one quality, age-appropriate book per child The more children read, the better they get at reading. Availability of quality, age-appropriate reading materials makes a difference in building the skills necessary for reading fluently. However, in many countries, students simply don’t have materials to read. For example, in 91% of classrooms observed in Madagascar in 2016 , none of the pupils had a textbook in hand. Systems that eliminate learning poverty ensure that students have regular and frequent access to a range of engaging reading materials.  It starts with the main classroom text, a notebook, and a pen or pencil. Ideally, this means print- and book-rich classrooms, libraries, and homes where the world of books and reading invites the child to explore and grow.

4.    Teach students to read first in the language they best speak and understand A major and underappreciated obstacle to literacy is the mismatch between the language that students speak best and the language of instruction in their schools. Students who receive home language instruction are more likely to attend school , stay in school , and acquire higher levels of learning . This is especially true for girls , and for minorities whose languages are not represented in formal structures . 

Moreover, research from contexts as wide ranging as Malawi , Guatemala , the United States (including a meta-analysis comprising 17 studies ), has shown that learning to read in one’s mother tongue can help the acquisition of a second language (typically the lingua franca) in later years. On the other hand, for students who lack the oral language abilities in the language being taught, learning to read becomes much more difficult.  Removing these language mismatches at a systems level is critical for all students to learn to read, and eventually, read to learn. 

5.    Foster children’s language abilities and promote the love of books and reading Developing oral language skills lead to better reading proficiency and positive attitudes towards books and reading.  According to psychology professor Dan Willingham , author of the book Raising Kids Who Read , there are many strategies that parents and teachers can follow to increase children’s enthusiasm and motivation towards reading. Children develop reading skills while they read for pleasure as much as when they read academic texts. Families can link reading to positive activities, such as visiting a library as a family or having “reading time” at home.

These five interventions have shown to accelerate progress towards reading and raise overall education quality in relatively short periods of time. They make up the World Bank’s forthcoming new “Literacy Policy Package” (LPP). Broader reforms are also needed to maintain progress and expand the improvements made in reading to other areas of learning. But we believe it can be done, and more importantly, that it must be done. In 2019, to galvanize action and align all actors around fighting learning poverty, the World Bank launched a Global Learning Target : to reduce by at least half the global Learning Poverty rate by 2030. 

The science of reading lays out a clear path for all students to have their best chance to become capable, engaged, lifelong readers. The LPP encapsulates this evidence and allows countries to “move the needle” in the direction of universal basic literacy. Ending learning poverty and getting every child reading is not an easy task to achieve, especially in the face of a global pandemic that is further jeopardizing learning outcomes. 

Now, more than ever, targeted efforts in eliminating illiteracy are critical for the millions of children and their families across the world who deserve and aspire to expanded education opportunities in life.    

Lead Education Specialist

Research Analyst

Education Specialist

Analyst, Education Global Practice

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• Looking Back Is Looking Forward
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To me, learning and literacy are nearly synonymous. Learning is the acquisition of ever-widening circles of literacy then using those literacies to solve problems as well as pose and answer questions. As humans, we of course put language at the center of learning. Our first literacy is the spoken language we grew up with; it is how we can most easily make our learning available to others. However, we often consider the simple ability to read and write as “being literate” so that we can partake in sharing the accumulated human knowledge across time and space. Instead, literacy—and therefore learning—is so much more.

Basic reading and writing skills can be continually nurtured to develop the ability to read and write increasingly complex ideas. For example, when we have students take college composition courses, we are simply asking them to learn how to expand basic skills, to become literate in a different way—to read and write as a learner in order to contribute to the learning of others. Similarly, when students take introductory classes in their major, we are introducing them to the literacy values of that discipline; we then ask them to deepen their literacy in that discipline as they take ever-more advanced courses then begin their professional lives in that field. When we have students take general education courses, we are asking them to achieve some basic literacy in an area of learning not their own. In this way, we hope they will achieve an understanding that being literate is, above all, a complex process of engaging with and sharing of ideas.

Just as importantly, literacy is a social activity, and it changes based on those around us. It is the context that matters when it comes to the correctness or appropriateness of that activity. As we go about our business and our lives, we—whether we realize it or not—move in and out of various discourse communities. The National Council of Teachers of English (2012) defines a discourse community as “a group of people, members of a community, who share a common interest and who use the same language, or discourse, as they talk and write about that interest.” A discourse community may simply be a group of people who enjoy a common hobby, such as skiing, or it may be a group of people who share the same professional interests, such as doctors seeking to find better ways to treat skiing injuries.

Throughout the course of our lives, we will be entering new discourse communities and consequently adopting new literacies. We will accept different jobs at different companies with different rules and language for communicating with each other. We will go through a similar process when we take up a new hobby or interest. Therefore, I think true literacy involves not only mastering some basic skills of spoken and written language common to everyone, but also the actual ability to move into a new discourse community and know how to learn the vocabulary and genres used in that community.

Perhaps it is the metacognitive ability to consider our own place within the various discourse communities that make up our world that best defines literacy. Shannon Carter (2008), Associate Professor of English at Texas A&M University-Commerce, calls for a pedagogy based on “rhetorical dexterity” that provides “a new understanding of the way literacy actually lives—a meta-cognitive ability to negotiate multiple literacies.” She argues for teaching students the value in understanding how they learned the literacies they already have and how that exercise will help them learn and feel comfortable in new literacies. Joyce Adams, Associate Professor in the College of Family, Home and Social Sciences at Brigham Young University, created a writing lab for social science students at BYU. Her research has led her to believe that students who believe they are not good writers often delay their advanced writing courses and/or complain about the amount of writing in non-English courses. Adams notes that since these students are “unaware of the amount of writing that takes place and the rhetorical differences that exist within different disciplines” it “hinders their attempt to enter their discipline’s discourse community.” As a result, she argues that teaching students successful metacognitive strategies can help them see the importance of writing tasks as well as increase their ability to effectively handle writing tasks in new situations.

Moreover, I now think that the contexts and forms of literacies are constantly expanding. In 1995, Deborah Brandt wrote, “The piling up and extending out of literacy and its technologies give a complex flavor even to elementary acts of reading and writing today. Contemporary literacy learners—across positions of age, gender, race, class, and language heritage—find themselves having to piece together reading and writing experiences from more and more spheres, creating new and hybrid forms of literacy where once there might have been fewer and more circumscribed forms.” For a long time, the printed page dominated as what we considered literacy. However, we must now consider other media—such as television, film, computer programs, and everything on the internet—as a form of literacy. We can no longer limit “literacy” to the reading and writing on paper; we need to consider web spaces, blogs, SnapChat, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook in the realm of literacy. Over 20 years, Brandt’s warning holds even more urgency for us today: “…problems with reading and writing are less about the lack of literacy in society than about the surplus of it. Being literate in the late twentieth century has to do with being able to negotiate that burgeoning surplus.” That problem has only multiplied in the twenty-first century. In a world where fake news passes for real and the violent broadcast their deeds for all to see, nurturing responsibility for our literacies has become an imperative.

Literacy is complex in many, many ways—and it is always a social, contextual activity. We cannot simply accept that literacy is the basic ability to read and write “standard English,” sitting in a room by oneself. Instead, we need to see literacy as fluid. It is the ability to take in as well as share ideas (both simple and complex) in person and across time and space. It is the ability to learn and employ new skills to communicate those ideas. Finally, literacy is the recognition that we can communicate and evaluate those ideas based on the social context, knowing that information we digest and share depends on those around us. And in a world where the internet allows us to narrow our discourse communities, shutting out or ignoring others, teaching the literacy of engagement and discernment will be our greatest struggle.

Adams, Joyce (2014). Self-efficacy: a prerequisite to successfully entering the Academic discourse community. Teaching and learning 28 (1), 17-35. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com.lcc.idm.oclc.org/

Brandt, Deborah (1995). Accumulating literacy: Writing and learning to write in the twentieth century . College English, 57 (6), 649-668.

Carter, Shannon (2008). The way literacy lives: Rhetorical dexterity and basic writing instruction. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.

National Council of Teacher of English (2012). Discourse communities. College Composition and Communication 64 (1) , 238. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.lcc.idm.oclc.org/

I really liked this image from the Literacy Volunteers of Franklin and Somerset Counties. The idea of tree–with some roots and a trunk to form a base growing into a variety of leaves and branches–makes a great metaphor for how I look at literacy.

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Information Literacy

11 A Beginner’s Guide to Information Literacy

By emily metcalf.

Introduction

Welcome to “A Beginner’s Guide to Information Literacy,” a step-by-step guide to understanding information literacy concepts and practices.

This guide will cover each frame of the “ Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education ,” a document created by the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) to help educators and librarians think about, teach, and practice information literacy (see Figure 11.1). The goal of this guide is to break down the basic concepts in the Framework and put them in accessible, digestible language so that we can think critically about the information we’re exposed to in our daily lives.

To start, let’s look at the ACRL definition of “information literacy,” so we have some context going forward:

Information Literacy is the set of integrated abilities encompassing the reflective discovery of information, the understanding of how information is produced and valued, and the use of information in creating new knowledge and participating ethically in communities of learning.

Boil that down and what you have are the essentials of information literacy: asking questions, finding information, evaluating information, creating information, and doing all of that responsibly and ethically.

We’ll be looking at each of the frames alphabetically, since that’s how they are presented in the framework. None of these frames is more important than another, and all need to be used in conjunction with the others, but we have to start somewhere, so alphabetical it is!

In order, the frames are

• Authority is constructed and contextual
• Information creation as a process
• Information has value
• Research as inquiry
• Scholarship as conversation
• Searching as strategic exploration

Just because we’re laying this out alphabetically does not mean you have to go through it in order. Some of the sections reference frames previously mentioned, but for the most part you can jump to wherever you like and use this guide however you see fit. You can also open up the framework using the link above or in the attached resources to read the framework in its original form and follow along with each section.

The following sections originally appeared as blog posts for the Texas A&M Corpus Christi’s library blog. Edits have been made to remove institutional context, but you can see the original posts in the Mary and Jeff Bell Library blog archives .

Authority is Constructed and Contextual

The first frame is “ Authority is Constructed and Contextual .” There’s a lot to unpack in that language, so let’s get started.

Start with the word “authority.”

At the root of “authority” is the word “author.” So start there: who wrote the piece of information you’re reading? Why are they writing? What stake do they have in the information they’re presenting? What are their credentials (You can straight up google their name to learn more about them)? Who are they affiliated with? A public organization? A university? A company trying to make a profit? Check it out.

Now let’s talk about how authority is “constructed.”

Have you ever heard the phrase “social construct”? Some people say gender is a social construct or language, written and spoken, is a construct. “Constructed” basically means humans made it up at some point to instill order in their communities. It’s not an observable, scientifically inevitable fact. When we say “authority” is constructed, we’re basically saying that we as individuals and as a society choose who we give authority to, and sometimes we might not be choosing based on facts.

A common way of assessing authority is by looking at an author’s education. We’re inclined to trust someone with a PhD over someone with a high school diploma because we think the person with a PhD is smarter. That’s a construct. We’re conditioned to think that someone with more education is smarter than people with less education, but we don’t know it for a fact.

There are a lot of reasons someone might not seek out higher education. They might have to work full time or take care of a family or maybe they just never wanted to go to college. None of these factors impact someone’s intelligence or ability to think critically.

If aliens land on South Padre Island, TX, there will be many voices contributing to the information collected about the event. Someone with a PhD in astrophysics might write an article about the mechanical workings of the aliens’ spaceship. Cool; they are an authority on that kind of stuff, so I trust them.

But the teenager who was on the island and watched the aliens land has first-hand experience of the event, so I trust them too. They have authority on the event even though they don’t have a PhD in astrophysics.

So, we cannot think someone with more education is inherently more trustworthy or smarter or has more authority than anyone else. Some people who are authorities on a subject are highly educated, some are not.

Likewise, let’s say I film the aliens landing and stream it live on Facebook. At the same time, a police officer gives an interview on the news that says something contradicting my video evidence. All of a sudden, I have more authority than the police officer. Many of us are raised to trust certain people automatically based on their jobs, but that’s also a construct. The great thing about critical thinking is that we can identify what is fact and fiction, and we can decide for ourselves who to trust.

The final word is “contextual.”

This one is a little simpler. If I go to the hospital and a medical doctor takes out my appendix, I’ll probably be pretty happy with the outcome. If I go to the hospital and Dr. Jill Biden, a professor of English, takes out my appendix, I’m probably going to be less happy with the results.

Medical doctors have authority in the context of medicine. Dr. Jill Biden has authority in the context of education. And Doctor Who has authority in the context of inter-galactic heroics and nice scarves.

This applies when we talk about experiential authority, too. If an eighth-grade teacher tells me what it’s like to be a fourth-grade teacher, I will not trust their authority. I will, however, trust a fourth-grade teacher to tell me about teaching fourth grade.

The Takeaway

Basically, when we think about authority, we need to ask ourselves, “Do I trust them? Why?” If they do not have experience with the subject (like witnessing an event or holding a job in the field) or subject expertise (like education or research), then maybe they aren’t an authority after all.

P.S. I’m sorry for the uncalled-for dig, Dr. Biden. I’m sure you’d do your best with an appendectomy.

Ask Yourself

• In what context are you an authority?
• If you needed to figure out how to do a kickflip on a skateboard, who would you ask? Who’s an authority in that situation?

Information Creation as a Process

The second frame is “ Information Creation as a Process .”

Information Creation

So first of all, let’s get this out of the way: everyone is a creator of information. When you write an essay, you’re creating information. When you log the temperature of the lizard tank, you’re creating information. Every Word Doc, Google Doc, survey, spreadsheet, Tweet, and PowerPoint that you’ve ever had a hand in? All information products. That YOU created. In some way or another, you created that information and put it out into the world.

One process you’re probably familiar with if you’re a student is the typical research paper. You know your professor wants about five to eight pages consisting of an introduction that ends in a thesis statement, a few paragraphs that each touch on a piece of evidence that supports your thesis, and then you end in a conclusion paragraph which starts with a rephrasing of your thesis statement. You save it to your hard drive or Google Drive and then you submit it to your professor.

This is one process for creating information. It’s a boring one, but it’s a process.

Outside of the classroom, the information-creation process looks different, and we have lots of choices to make.

One of the choices you’ll need to make is the mode or format in which you present information. The information I’m creating right now comes to you in the mode of an Open Educational Resource . Originally, I created these sections as blog posts. Those five-page essays I mentioned earlier are in the mode of essays.

When you create information (outside of a course assignment), it’s up to you how to package that information. It might feel like a simple or obvious choice, but some information is better suited to some forms of communication. And some forms of communication are received in a certain way, regardless of the information in them.

For example, if I tweet “Jon Snow knows nothing,” it won’t carry with it the authority of my peer-reviewed scholarly article that meticulously outlines every instance in which Jon Snow displays a lack of knowledge. Both pieces of information are accurate, but the processes I went through to create and disseminate the information have an effect on how the information is received by my audience.

And that is perhaps the biggest thing to consider when creating information: your audience.

The Audience Matters

If I just want my twitter followers to know Jon Snow knows nothing, then a tweet is the right way to reach them. If I want my tenured colleagues and other various scholars to know Jon Snow knows nothing, then I’m going to create a piece of information that will reach them, like a peer-reviewed journal article.

Often, we aren’t the ones creating information; we’re the audience members ourselves. When we’re scrolling on Twitter, reading a book, falling asleep during a PowerPoint presentation—we’re the audience observing the information being shared. When this is the case, we have to think carefully about the ways information was created.

Advertisements are a good example. Some are designed to reach a 20-year old woman in Corpus Christi through Facebook, while others are designed to reach a 60-year old man in Hoboken, NJ over the radio. They might both be selling the same car, and they’re going to put the same information (size, terrain, miles per gallon, etc.) in those ads, but their audiences are different, so their information-creation process is different, and we end up with two different ads for different audiences.

Be a Critical Audience Member

When we are the audience member, we might automatically trust something because it’s presented a certain way. I know that, personally, I’m more likely to trust something that is formatted as a scholarly article than I am something that is formatted as a blog. And I know that that’s biased thinking and it’s a mistake to make that assumption.

It’s risky to think like that for a couple of reasons:

• Looks can be deceiving. Just because someone is wearing a suit and tie doesn’t mean they’re not an axe murderer and just because something looks like a well-researched article, doesn’t mean it is one.
• Automatic trust unnecessarily limits the information we expose ourselves to. If I only ever allow myself to read peer-reviewed scholarly articles, think of all the encyclopedias and blogs and news articles I’m missing out on!

If I have a certain topic I’m really excited about, I’m going to try to expose myself to information regardless of the format and I’ll decide for myself (#criticalthinking) which pieces of information are authoritative and which pieces of information suit my needs.

Likewise, as I am conducting research and considering how best to share my new knowledge, I’m going to consider my options for distributing this newfound information and decide how best to reach my audience. Maybe it’s a tweet, maybe it’s a Buzzfeed quiz, or maybe it’s a presentation at a conference. But whatever mode I choose will also convey implications about me, my information creation process, and my audience.

You create information all of the time. The way you package and share it will have an effect on how others perceive it.

• Is there a form of information you’re likely to trust at first glance? Either a publication like a newspaper or a format like a scholarly article?
• Can you think of some voices that aren’t present in that source of information?
• Where might you look to find some other perspectives?
• If you read an article written by medical researchers that says chocolate is good for your health, would you trust the article?
• Would you still trust their authority if you found out that their research was funded by a company that sells chocolate bars? Funding and stakeholders have an impact on the creation process, and it’s worth thinking about how this can compromise someone’s authority.

Information Has Value

Onwards and upwards! We’re onto frame 3: “ Information Has Value .”

What Counts as Value?

There are a lot of different ways we value things. Some things, like money, are valuable to us because we can exchange them for goods and services. On the other hand, some things, like a skill, are valuable to us because we can exchange them for money (which we exchange for more goods and services). Some things are valuable to us for sentimental reasons, like a photograph or a letter. Some things, like our time, are valuable because they are finite.

The Value of Information

Information has all kinds of value.

One kind is monetary. If I write a book and it gets published, I’m probably going to make some money off of that (though not as much money as the publishing company will make). So that’s valuable to me.

But I’m also getting my name out into the world, and that’s valuable to me too. It means that when I apply for a job or apply for a grant, someone can google me and think, “Oh look! She wrote a book! That means she has follow-through and will probably work hard for us!” That kind of recognition is a sort of social value. That social value, by the way, can also become monetary value. If I’ve produced information, a university might give me a job, or an organization might fund my research. If I’ve invented a machine that will floss my teeth for me, the patent for my invention could be worth a lot of money (plus it’d be awesome. Cool factor can count as value.).

In a more altruistic slant, information is also valuable on a societal level. When we have more information about political candidates, for example, it influences how we vote, who we elect, and how our country is governed. That’s some really valuable information right there. That information has an effect on the whole world (plus outer space, if we elect someone who’s super into space exploration). If someone is trying to keep information hidden or secret, or if they’re spreading misinformation to confuse people, it’s probably a sign that the information they’re hiding is important, which is to say, valuable.

On a much smaller scale, think about the information on food packages. If you’re presented with calorie counts, you might make a different decision about the food you buy. If you’re presented with an item’s allergens, you might avoid that product and not end up in an Emergency Room with anaphylactic shock. You know what’s super valuable to me? NOT being in an Emergency Room!

But if you do end up in the Emergency Room, the information that doctors and nurses will use to treat your allergic reaction is extremely valuable. That value of that information is equal to the lives it’s saved.

Acting Like Information is Valuable

When we create our own information by writing papers and blog posts and giving presentations, it’s really important that we give credit to the information we’ve used to create our new information product for a couple of reasons.

First, someone worked really hard to create something, let’s say an article. And that article’s information is valuable enough to you to use in your own paper or presentation. By citing the author properly, you’re giving the author credit for their work, which is valuable to them. The more their article is cited, the more valuable it becomes because they’re more likely to get scholarly recognition and jobs and promotions.

Second, by showing where you’re getting your information, you’re boosting the value of your new information product. On the most basic level, you’ll get a higher grade on your paper, which is valuable to you. But you’re also telling your audience, whether it’s your professor or your boss or your YouTube subscribers, that you aren’t just making stuff up—you did the work of researching and citing, and that makes your audience trust you more. It makes the audience value your information more.

Remember early on when I said the frames all connect? “Information Has Value” ties into the other information literacy frames we’ve talked about, “Information Creation as a Process” and “Authority as Constructed and Contextual.” When I see you’ve cited your sources of information, then I, as the audience, think you’re more authoritative than someone who doesn’t cite their sources. I also can look at your information product and evaluate the effort you’ve put into it. If you wrote a tweet, which takes little time and effort, I’ll generally value it less than if you wrote a book, which took a lot of time and effort to create. I know that time is valuable, so seeing that you were willing to dedicate your time to create this information product makes me feel like it’s more valuable.

Information is valuable because of what goes into its creation (time and effort) and what comes from it (an informed society). If we didn’t value information, we wouldn’t be moving forward as a society, we’d probably have died out thousands of years ago as creatures who never figured out how to use tools or start a fire.

So continue to value information because it improves your life, your audiences’ lives, and the lives of other information creators. More importantly, if we stop valuing information a smarter species will eventually take over and it’ll be a whole Planet of the Apes thing and I just don’t have the energy for that right now.

• Can you think of some ways in which a YouTube video on dog training has value? Who values it? Who profits from it?
• Think of some information that would be valuable to someone applying to college. What does that person need to know?

Research as Inquiry

Easing on down the road, we’ve come to frame number 4: “ Research as Inquiry .”

“Inquiry” is another word for “curiosity” or “questioning.” I like to think of this frame as “Research as Curiosity,” because I think it more accurately captures the way our adorable human brains work.

Inquiring Minds Want to Know

When you think to yourself, “How old is Madonna?” and you google it to find out she’s 62 (as of the creation of this resource), that’s research! You had a question (“how old is Madonna?”), you applied a search strategy (googling “Madonna age”) and you found an answer (62). That’s it! That’s all research has to be!

But it’s not all research can be. This example, like most research, is comprised of the same components we use in more complex situations. Those components are a question and an answer, inquiry and research, “how old is Madonna?” and “62.” But when we’re curious, we go back to the inquiry step again and ask more questions and seek more answers. We’re never really done, even when we’ve answered the initial question and written the paper and given the presentation and received accolades and awards for all our hard work. If it’s something we’re really curious about, we’ll keep asking and answering and asking again.

If you’re really curious about Madonna, you don’t just think, “How old is Madonna?” You think “How old is Madonna? Wait, really ? Her skin looks amazing! What’s her skincare routine? Seriously, what year was she born? Oh my god, she wrote children’s books! Does my library have any?” Your questions lead you to answers which, when you’re really interested in a topic, lead you to more and more questions. Humans are naturally curious ; we have this sort of instinct to be like, “huh, I wonder why that is?” and it’s propelled us to learn things and try things and fail and try again! It’s all research as inquiry.

And to satisfy your curiosity, yes, the library I currently work at does own one of Madonna’s children’s books. It’s called The Adventures of Abdi , and you can find it in our Juvenile Collection on the second floor at PZ8 M26 Adv 2004. And you can find a description of her skincare routine in this article from W Magazine: https://www.wmagazine.com/story/madonna-skin-care-routine-tips-mdna . You’re welcome.

Identifying an Information Need

One of the tricky parts of research as inquiry is determining a situation’s information need. It sounds simple to ask yourself, “What information do I need?” and sometimes we do it unconsciously. But it’s not always easy. Here are a few examples of information needs:

• You need to know what your niece’s favorite Paw Patrol character is so you can buy her a birthday present. Your research is texting your sister. She says, “Everest.” And now you’re done. You buy the present, you’re a rock star at the birthday party. Your information need was a short answer based on a three-year old’s opinion.
• You’re trying to convince someone on Twitter that Nazis are bad. You compile a list of opinion pieces from credible news publications like the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times , gather first-hand narratives of Holocaust survivors and victims of hate crimes, find articles that debunk eugenics, etc. Your information need isn’t scholarly publications, it’s accessible news and testimonials. It’s articles a person might actually read in their free time, articles that aren’t too long and don’t require access to scholarly materials that are sometimes behind paywalls.
• You need to write a literature review for an assignment, but you don’t know what a literature review is. So first you google “literature review example.” You find out what it is, how one is created, and maybe skim a few examples. Next, you move to your library’s website and search tool and try “oceanography literature review,” and find some closer examples. Finally, you start conducting research for your own literature review. Your information need here is both broader and deeper. You need to learn what a literature review is, how one is compiled, and how one searches for relevant scholarly articles in the resources available to you.

Sometimes it helps to break down big information needs into smaller ones. Take the last example, for instance: you need to write a literature review. What are the smaller parts?

• Information Need 1: Find out what a literature review is
• Information Need 2: Find out how people go about writing literature reviews
• Information Need 3: Find relevant articles on your topic for your own literature review

It feels better to break it into smaller bits and accomplish those one at a time. And it highlights an important part of this frame that’s surprisingly difficult to learn: ask questions. You can’t write a literature review if you don’t know what it is, so ask. You can’t write a literature review if you don’t know how to find articles, so ask. The quickest way to learn is to ask questions. Once you stop caring if you look stupid, and once you realized no one thinks poorly of people who ask questions, life gets a lot easier.

So, let’s add this to our components of research: ask a question, determine what you need in order to thoroughly answer the question, and seek out your answers. Not too painful, and when you’re in love with whatever you’re researching, it might even be fun.

• When you have a question, ask it.
• When you’re genuinely interested in something, keep asking questions and finding answers.
• When you have a task at hand, take a second to think realistically about the information you’ll need to accomplish that task. You don’t need a peer-reviewed article to find out if praying mantises eat their mates, but you might if you want to find out why.
• What’s the last thing you looked up on Wikipedia? Did you stop when you found an answer, or did you click on another link and another link until you learned about something completely different?
• If you can’t remember, try it now! Search for something (like a favorite book or tv show) and click on linked words and phrases within Wikipedia until you learn something new!
• What was the last thing you researched that you were really excited about? Do you struggle when teachers and professors tell you to “research something that interests you”? Instead, try asking yourself, “What makes me really angry?” You might find you have more interests than you realized!

Scholarship as Conversation

We’ve made it friends! My favorite frame: “ Scholarship as Conversation .” Is it weird to have a favorite frame of information literacy? Probably. Am I going to talk about it anyway? You betcha!

What does “Scholarship as Conversation” mean?

Scholarship as conversation refers to the way scholars reference each other and build off of one another’s work, just like in a conversation. Have you ever had a conversation that started when you asked someone what they did last weekend and ended with you telling a story about how someone (definitely not you) ruined the cake at your mom’s dog’s birthday party? And then someone says, “but like I was saying earlier…” and they take the conversation back to a point in the conversation where they were reminded of a different point or story? Conversations aren’t linear, they aren’t a clear line to a clear destination, and neither is research. When we respond to the ideas and thoughts of scholars, we’re responding to the scholars themselves and engaging them in conversation.

Why do I Love this Frame so Much?

Let me count the ways.

I really enjoy the imagery of scholarship as a conversation among peers. Just a bunch of well-informed curious people coming together to talk about something they all love and find interesting. I imagine people literally sitting around a big round table talking about things they’re all excited about and want to share with each other. It’s a really lovely image in my head. Eventually the image kind of reshapes and devolves into that painting of dogs playing poker, but I love that image too!

It harkens back to pre-internet scholarship, which sounds excruciating and exhausting, but it was all done for the love of a subject. Scholars used to literally mail each other manuscripts seeking feedback. Then, when they got an article published in a journal, scholars interested in the subject would seek out and read the article in the physical journal it was published in. Then they’d write reviews of the article, praising or criticizing the author’s research or theories or style. As the field grew, more and more people would write and contribute more articles to criticize and praise and build off of one another.

So, for example, if I wrote an article that was about Big Foot and then Joe wrote an article saying, “Emily’s article on Big Foot is garbage; here’s what I think about Big Foot,” Sam and I are now having a conversation. It’s not always a fun one, but we’re writing in response to one another about something we’re both passionate about. Later, Jaiden comes along and disagrees with Joe and agrees with me (because I’m right) and they cite both me and Joe. Now we’re all three in a conversation. And it just grows and grows and more people show up at the table to talk and contribute, or maybe just to listen.

Reason Three

You can roll up to the table and just listen if you want to. Sometimes we’re just listening to the conversation. We’re at the table, but we’re not there to talk. We’re just hoping to get some questions answered and learn from some people. When we’re reading books and articles or listening to podcasts or watching movies, we’re listening to the conversation. You don’t have to do groundbreaking research to be part of a conversation. You can just be there and appreciate what everyone’s talking about. You’re still there in the conversation.

Reason Four

You can contribute to the conversation at any time. The imagery of a conversation is nice because it’s approachable: just pull up a chair and start talking. With any new subject, you should probably listen a little at first, ask some questions, and then start giving your own opinion or theories, but you can contribute at any time. Since we do live in the age of internet research, we can contribute in ways people 50 years ago never dreamed of. Besides writing essays in class (which totally counts because you’re examining the conversation and pulling in the bits you like and citing them to give credit to other scholars), you can talk to your professors and friends about a topic, you can blog about it, you can write articles about it, you can even tweet about it (have you ever seen Humanities folk on Twitter? They go nuts on there having actual, literal scholarly conversations). Your ways for engaging are kind of endless!

Reason Five

Yep, I’m listing reasons.

Conversations are cyclical. Like I said above, they’re not always a straight path and that’s true of research too. You don’t have to engage with who spoke most recently; you can engage with someone who spoke ten years ago, someone who spoke 100 years ago, you can even respond to the person who started the conversation! Jump in wherever you want. And wherever you do jump in, you might just change the course of the conversation. Because sometimes we think we have an answer, but then something new is discovered or a person who hadn’t been at the table or who had been overlooked says something that drastically impacts what we knew, so now we have to reexamine it all over again and continue the conversation in a trajectory we hadn’t realized was available before.

Lastly, this frame is about sharing and responding and valuing one another’s work. If Joe, my Big Foot nemesis, responds to my article, they’re going to cite me. If Jaiden then publishes a rebuttal, they’re going to cite both Joe and me, because fair is fair. This is for a few reasons: 1) even if Jaiden disagrees with Joe’s work, they respect that Joe put effort into it and it’s valuable to them. 2) When Jaiden cites Joe, it means anyone who jumps into the conversation at the point of Jaiden’s article will be able to backtrack and catch up using Jaiden’s citations. A newcomer can trace it back to Joe’s article and trace that back to mine. They can basically see a transcript of the whole conversation so they can read Jaiden’s article with all of the context, and they can write their own well-informed piece on Big Foot.

There’s a lot to take away from this frame, but here’s what I think is most important:

• Be respectful of other scholars’ work and their part in the conversation by citing them.
• Start talking whenever you feel ready, in whatever platform you feel comfortable.
• Make sure everyone who wants to be at the table is at the table. This means making sure information is available to those who want to listen and making sure we lift up the voices that are at risk of being drowned out.
• What scholarly conversations have you participated in recently? Is there a Reddit forum you look in on periodically to learn what’s new in the world of cats wearing hats? Or a Facebook group on roller skating? Do you contribute or just listen?
• Think of a scholarly conversation surrounding a topic—sharks, ballet, Game of Thrones. Who’s not at the table? Whose voice is missing from the conversation? Why do you think that is?

Searching as Strategic Exploration

You’ve made it! We’ve reached the last frame: Searching as Strategic Exploration .

“Searching as Strategic Exploration” addresses the part of information literacy that we think of as “Research.” It deals with the actual task of searching for information, and the word “Exploration” is a really good word choice, because it’s evocative of the kind of struggle we sometimes feel when we approach research. I imagine people exploring a jungle, facing obstacles and navigating an uncertain path towards an ultimate goal (Note: the goal is love and it was inside of us all along). I also kind of imagine all the different Northwest Passage explorations, which were cool in theory, but didn’t super-duper work out as expected.

But research is like that! Sometimes we don’t get where we thought we were headed. But the good news is this: You probably won’t die from exposure or resort to cannibalism in your research. Fun, right?

Step 1: Identify a Goal

The first part of any good exploration is identifying a goal. Maybe it’s a direct passage to Asia or the diamond the old lady threw into the ocean at the end of Titanic. More likely, the goal is to satisfy an information need. Remember when we talked about “Research as Inquiry?” All that stuff about paw patrol and Madonna’s skin care regimen? Those were examples of information needs. We’re just trying to find an answer or learn something new.

So great! Our goal is to learn something new. Now we make a strategy.

Step 2: Make a Strategy

For many of your information needs you might just need to Google a question. There’s your strategy: throw your question into Google and comb through the results. You might limit your search to just websites ending in .org, .gov, or .edu. You might also take it a step further and, rather than type in an entire question fully formed, you just type in keywords. So “Who is the guy who invented mayonnaise?” becomes “mayonnaise inventor.” Identifying keywords is part of your strategy and so is using a search engine and limiting the results you’re interested in.

Step 3: Start Exploring

Googling “mayonnaise inventor” probably brings you to Wikipedia where we often learn that our goals don’t have a single, clearly defined answer. For example, we learn that mayonnaise might have gotten its name after the French won a battle in Port Mahon, but that doesn’t tell us who actually made the mayonnaise, just when it was named. Prior to being named, the sauce was called “aioli bo” and was apparently in a Menorcan recipe book from 1745 by Juan de Altimiras. That’s great for Altimiras, but the most likely answer is that mayonnaise was invented way before him and he just had the foresight to write down the recipe. Not having a single definite answer is an unforeseen obstacle tossed into our path that now affects our strategy.  We know we have a trickier question than when we first set sail.

But we have a lot to work with! We now have more keywords like “Port Mahon,” “the French,” and Wikipedia taught us that the earliest known mention of “mayonnaise” was in 1804, so we have “1804” as a keyword too.

Let’s see if we can find that original mention. Let’s take our keywords out of Wikipedia where we found them and voyage to a library’s website! At my library we have a tool that searches through all of our resources. We call it the “Quick Search.” You might have a library available to you, either at school, on a university’s campus, or a local public library. You can do research in any of these places!

So into the Quick Search tool (or whatever you have available to you) go our keywords: “1804,” “mayonnaise,” and “France.” The first result I see is an e-book by a guy who traveled to Paris in 1804, so that might be what we’re looking for. I search through the text and I do, in fact, find a reference to mayonnaise on page 99! The author (August von Kotzebue) is talking about how it’s hard to understand menus at French restaurants, for “What foreigner, for instance, would at first know what is meant by a mayonnaise de poulet, a galatine de volaille, a cotelette a la minute, or even an epigramme d’agneau?” He then goes on to recommend just ordering the fish, since you’ll know what you’ll get (Kotzebue 99).

So that doesn’t tell us who invented mayonnaise, but I think it’s pretty funny! So I’d call that detour a win.

Step 4: Reevaluate

When we hit ends that we don’t think are successful, we can always retrace our steps and reevaluate our question. Dead ends are a part of exploration! We’ve learned a lot, but we’ve also learned that maybe “who invented mayonnaise?” isn’t the right question. Maybe we should ask questions about the evolution of French cuisine or about ownership of culinary experimentation.

I’m going to stick with the history of mayonnaise, for just a little while longer, but my “1804 mayonnaise France” search wasn’t as helpful as I’d hoped, so I’ll try something new. Let’s try looking at encyclopedias.

I searched in a database called Credo Reference (which is a database filled with encyclopedia entries) and just searching “mayonnaise.” I can see that the first entry, “Minorca or Menorca” from The Companion to British History , doesn’t initially look helpful, but we’re exploring, so let’s click on it. It tells us that mayonnaise was invented in 1756 by a French commander’s cook and its name comes from Port Mahon where the French fended off the British during a siege ( Arnold-Baker, 2001 ). That’s awesome! It’s what Wikipedia told us! But let’s corroborate that fact. I click on The Hutchinson Chronology of World History entry for 1756, which says mayonnaise was invented in France in 1756 by the duc de Richelieu ( Helicon, 2018 ). I’m not sure I buy it. I could see a duke’s cook inventing mayonnaise, but I have a hard time imagining a duke and military commander taking the time to create a condiment.

But now I can go on to research the duc de Richelieu and his military campaigns and his culinary successes. Just typing “Duke de Richelieu” into the library’s Quick Search shows me a TON of books (16,742 as of writing this) on his life and he influence on France. So maybe now we’re actually exploring Richelieu or the intertwined history of French cuisine and the lives of nobility.

What Did We Just Do?

Our strategy for exploring this topic has had a lot of steps, but they weren’t random. It was a wild ride, but it was a strategic one. Let’s break the steps down real quick:

• We asked a question or identified a goal
• We identified keywords and googled them
• We learned some background information and got new keywords from Wikipedia and had to reevaluate our question
• We followed a lead to a book but hit a dead end when it wasn’t as useful as we’d hoped
• We identified an encyclopedia database and found several entries that support the theory we learned in Wikipedia, which forced us to reevaluate our question again
• We identified a key player in our topic and searched for him in the library’s Quick Search tool and the resources we found made us reevaluate our question yet again

Other strategies could include looking through an article’s reference list, working through a mind map , outlining your questions, or recording your steps in a research log so you don’t get lost—whatever works for you!

Exploration is tricky. Sometimes you circle back and ask different questions as new obstacles arise. Sometimes you have a clear path and you reach your goal instantly. But you can always retrace your steps, try new routes, discover new information, and maybe you’ll get to your destination in the end. Even if you don’t, you’ve learned something.

For instance, today we learned that if you can’t understand a menu in French, you should just order the fish.

• Where do you start a search for information? Do you start in different places when you have different information needs?
• If your research question was “What is the impact of fast fashion on carbon emissions?” What keywords would you use to start searching?

The Framework for Information Literacy in Higher Education is one heck of a document. It’s complicated, its frames intertwine, it’s written in a way that can be tricky to understand. But essentially, it’s just trying to get us to understand that the ways we interact with information are complicated and we need to think about our interactions to make sure we’re behaving in an ethical and responsible way.

Why do your professors make you cite things? Because those citations are valuable to the original author, and they prove your engagement with the scholarly conversation. Why do we need to hold space in the conversation for voices that we haven’t heard from before? Because maybe no one recognized the authority in those voices before. The old process for creating information shut out lots of voices while prioritizing others. It’s important for us to recognize these nuances when we see what information is available to us and important for us to ask, “Whose voice isn’t here? Why? Am I looking hard enough for those voices? Can I help amplify them?” And it’s important for us to ask, “Why is the loudest voice being so loud? What motivates them? Why should I trust them over others?”

When we think critically about the information we access and the information we create and share, we’re engaging as citizens in one big global conversation. Making sure voices are heard, including your own voice, is what moves us all towards a more intelligent and understanding society.

Of course, part of thinking critically about information means thinking critically about both this guide and the framework. Lots of people have criticized the framework for including too much library jargon. Other folks think the framework needs to be rewritten to explicitly address how information seeking systems and publishing platforms have arisen from racist, sexist institutions. We won’t get into the criticisms here, but they’re important to think about. You can learn more about the criticism of the framework in a blog post by Ian Beilin , or you can do your own search for criticism on the framework to see what else is out there and form your own opinions.

The Final Takeaway

Ask questions, find information, and ask questions about that information.

Attributions

“A Beginner’s Guide to Introduction to Information Literacy” by Emily Metcalf is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA

Writing Arguments in STEM Copyright © by Jason Peters; Jennifer Bates; Erin Martin-Elston; Sadie Johann; Rebekah Maples; Anne Regan; and Morgan White is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Are you taking the ACT with Writing? No need to stress! The ACT essay follows a predictable format, which means you can practice and prepare beforehand. Take a look at a sample ACT writing prompt and learn five key steps to penning a high-scoring essay.

Keep in mind: The ACT writing essay is optional. Currently, only 27 colleges and universities require the ACT with Writing. You can see the complete list  here . If there is any chance that you might apply to one of those schools, you should register for the ACT with Writing. Not sure where you will apply? You should strongly consider signing up for the essay and keep your options open.

ACT with Writing: Sample Prompt

This example writing prompt comes straight from our book ACT Prep :

Education and the Workplace

Many colleges and universities have cut their humanities departments, and high schools have started to shift their attention much more definitively toward STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) and away from ELA (English, Language Arts). Representatives from both school boards and government organizations suggest that the move toward STEM is necessary in helping students to participate in a meaningful way in the American workplace. Given the urgency of this debate for the future of education and society as a whole, it is worth examining the potential consequences of this shift in how students are educated in the United States.

Read and carefully consider these perspectives. Each suggests a particular way of thinking about the shift in American education.

Write a unified, coherent essay in which you evaluate multiple perspectives on the issue of how schools should balance STEM and ELA subjects. In your essay, be sure to:

• analyze and evaluate the perspectives given
• state and develop your own perspective on the issue
• explain the relationship between your perspective and those given

Your perspective may be in full agreement with any of the others, in partial agreement, or wholly different. Whatever the case, support your ideas with logical reasoning and detailed, persuasive examples.

How to Write the ACT Essay

Your job is to write an essay in which you take some sort of position on the prompt, all while assessing the three perspectives provided in the boxes. Find a way to anchor your essay with a unique perspective of your own that can be defended and debated, and you are already in the upper echelon of scorers.

Step 1: Work the Prompt

What in the prompt requires you to weigh in? Why is this issue still the subject of debate and not a done deal?

Step 2: Work the Perspectives

Typically, the three perspectives will be split: one for , one against , and one in the middle . Your goal in Step 2 is to figure out where each perspective stands and then identify at least one shortcoming of each perspective. For the example above, ask yourself: 

• What does each perspective consider?
• What does each perspective overlook?

Read More: What's a Good ACT Score?

Step 3: Generate Your Own Perspective

Now it's time to come up with your own perspective! If you merely restate one of the three given perspectives, you won’t be able to get into the highest scoring ranges. You’ll draw from each of the perspectives, and you may side with one of them, but your perspective should have something unique about it.

Step 4: Put It All Together

Now that you have your ideas in order, here's a blueprint for how to organize the ACT essay. This blueprint works no matter what your prompt is.

Step 5: (If There's Time): Proofread

Spend one or two minutes on proofreading your essay if you have time. You’re looking for big, glaring errors. If you find one, erase it completely or cross it out neatly. Though neatness doesn’t necessarily affect your grade, it does make for a happy grader.

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