Strategies used by university students in searching for information for academic purposes
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3989/redc.2011.1.769Keywords:
Academic competences, information literacy, information search strategiesAbstract
This paper presents the results of a study of undergraduate students at the University of the Balearic Islands (UIB) focused on 1) a self-assessment of their knowledge and skills for using library services and the Internet in searching for information for academic purposes; 2) the frequency of their use of library services in general, and of the UIB’s library catalogue and the Internet for academic purposes, in particular. The study is based on a questionnaire sent to 1,025 randomly selected university students. The results obtained suggest that university students consider themselves, in general terms, competent in using the Internet for searching information for academic purposes, but not in using libraries for the same purpose. Logically, the frequency of Internet usage is also far superior to that of other resources used to search for academic information. Therefore, we believe it is necessary to improve the documentation skills and strategies for students’ use of libraries. This should not exclude the use of the Internet, but rather complement it for enhancing search results in regards to rigor, reliability and the potential to cover informational needs of an academic nature.
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