Abstract
An attempt was made to discover the entire search process of the individual student in order to find whether there are patterns of bibliographic searching. A sample of 200 Israeli high school students engaging in final projects were asked to fill out a questionnaire that reconstructed their bibliographic search. Studying the comprehensive behavior of each individual user enables us to differentiate between groups that are characterized by different search patterns. Three successive search patterns were identified: the simple, the intermediate, and the sophisticated search patterns. Then the relation between the search pattern and student characteristics was studied. The characteristics were: (a) bibliographic instruction-whether given or not, according to what method, and by whom; (b) the project adviser; and (c) the student's home-the parents' education and the existence of nonfiction books in the home. A significant correlation was found between receiving of bibliographic instruction and the search pattern. The timing of the instruction was found to be the most significant factor. A significant correlation was also found between the search pattern and receiving instruction from the project adviser, whereas no correlation was found with receiving instruction from the leader. No correlation was found between the search pattern and the instruction method, or the topic of instruction. No significant correlation (only a slight tendency) was found between the parents' education and the search pattern.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 57-75 |
| Number of pages | 19 |
| Journal | Library and Information Science Research |
| Volume | 10 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| State | Published - 1988 |
| Externally published | Yes |