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ERIC Number: EJ1125900
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2017
Pages: 11
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: EISSN-1436-4522
EISSN: N/A
Online Research Behaviors of Engineering Graduate Students in Taiwan
Cheng, Ying-Hsueh; Tsai, Chin-Chung
Educational Technology & Society, v20 n1 p169-179 2017
Previous studies have examined the online research behaviors of graduate students in terms of how they seek and retrieve research-related information on the Web across diverse disciplines. However, few have focused on graduate students' searching activities, and particularly for their research tasks. Drawing on Kuiper, Volman, and Terwel's (2008) three aspects of web literacy skills (searching, reading, and evaluating), this qualitative study aims to better understand a group of graduate engineering students' searching, reading, and evaluating processes for research purposes. Through in-depth interviews and the think-aloud protocol, we compared the strategies employed by 22 Taiwanese graduate engineering students. The results showed that the students' online research behaviors included seeking and obtaining, reading and interpreting, and assessing and evaluating sources. The findings suggest that specialized training for preparing novice researchers to critically evaluate relevant information or scholarly work to fulfill their research purposes is needed. Implications for enhancing the information literacy of engineering students are discussed.
International Forum of Educational Technology & Society. Athabasca University, School of Computing & Information Systems, 1 University Drive, Athabasca, AB T9S 3A3, Canada. Tel: 780-675-6812; Fax: 780-675-6973; Web site: http://www.ifets.info
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Taiwan
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A