Examining the Significance of Information Literacy Skills in the Academic Journey of First-Year Students

The main objective of this paper is to determine the effects of demographic factors such as gender, age, and university on freshers' experiences with information literacy skills. The current research adopts a cross-sectional survey design with participants from two universities. The study employed a stratified random sampling technique to select the sample size. The quantitative method through questionnaire was designed and used to assess and confirm whether freshers understand information literacy skills.The findings indicate that gender, age, and university affect freshers' experiences with information literacy skills, meaning that there were no significant differences in the experience of information literacy skills across age, gender, and university among freshers. The findings also revealed that male respondents, 20-24-year-old respondents, and students from the Federal University of Health Sciences showed significantly greater experience with information literacy skills. The findings of this research provide support for the postulated hypotheses. Undergraduates in the early stages of their university education should be exposed to preliminary research activities by faculty members to enhance their experience and knowledge of information literacy, including copyright understanding and the ability to effectively cite and paraphrase existing knowledge to avoid plagiarism. This research highlighted on how IL transform university freshers into information-literate individuals who can locate, access, and use information resources ethically and effectively.