Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Identifying How Novice Researchers Search, Locate, Choose And Use Web Resources At The Early Stage Of Research, Maizatul Akmar Ismail

Maizatul Akmar Ismail

This paper describes the process of identifying novice researchers' information needs. The study sampled postgraduate students at the Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology, University of Malaya, Malaysia. The study utilized three types of data gathering techniques: (a) observations to gauge further understanding the novice researchers' information seeking behaviour while searching for research related sources on the Web; (b) a questionnaire-based survey to identify the artifact or the resources they use for the research activities; and (c) interviews with expert researchers to gauge further information needs of novice researchers. Results indicate that novice researchers rely on thesis, e-book, journals …