How Students Research: Implications for the Library and Faculty

This paper presents qualitative findings about the search behaviors and research habits of students interviewed at six college and university campuses in the US. Our findings suggest that students’ strategies are influenced by both their non-academic search experiences as well as the broader academic context of their research tasks. Their behaviors suggest an on-going negotiation of these influences, evidenced by the ways they incorporate Google into their research strategy while still closely adhering to faculty instruction for using library resources. Students bring a strong sense of self-reliance to the research process, yet they still experience many barriers and pain points accessing library resources. We have included recommendations for librarians and faculty who, by better understanding the journey of an academic researcher, can work in concert to reduce the barriers and increase the success of students’ research efforts.