Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

"The Library Catalog Is Definitely The Best Place To Find Articles!” Overconfidence Among Undergraduate Library Users, Katelyn Angell

ACRL New England Chapter Annual Conference

Investigators in several academic subjects have conducted research focused on determining if undergraduate students are overconfident regarding their knowledge of disciplinary subject matter. Up until recently, most of these studies have investigated students of psychology or economics. However, a handful of academic librarians have begun to conduct similar studies with undergraduate library users, curious whether this population shows similar overconfidence in their grasp of academic research. Overconfidence is a major problem for students because it interferes with both learning and an authentic self-awareness. The present study surveyed 34 undergraduates to assess if they were overconfident about their knowledge in key …