The purpose of this study was to identify the major problem areas of freshmen community college students and to determine if significant differences in problems of freshmen students existed as a variable of age, sex, or marital status. The population consisted of 674 community college students enrolled in an Orientation to College program during the fall or spring semester of 1976, 1977, 1978 or 1979. Each student was administered the Mooney Problem Check List (MPCL), College Form (1950) during the first week of enrollment at the community college. he data were analyzed in order to determine if a significant difference existed in the problem areas reported by students according to a Friedman Two-Way Analysis of Variance by Ranks. A significant difference produced by the Friedman ANOVA indicated a need to apply a Wilcoxon Matched-Pairs Signed Ranks Test in order to determine which problem areas differed significantly from one another. A Mann Whitney U Test was employed to statistically compare the problem areas of male students and female students as well as married students and single students. A Kruskal-Wallis one-way analysis of variance by ranks for k independent samples was employed to test differences in the responses of four student age groups: 18 and under, 19 and 20, 20 through 29 and 30 years of age and over.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between selected basic library skills and the use of the library by freshman community college students, and to determine or evaluate the extent to which the use of the library by such students is related to or influenced by the level of their library skills. The population utilized in this study was the total enrollment of freshman students beginning their second semester of study at two typical Texas rural community colleges, namely Cooke County College at Gainesville, Texas, and Grayson County College at Sherman, Texas. Data regarding library skills were obtained through the use of a standardized test instrument, A Library Orientation Test for College Freshmen. Data regarding library use, relevant demographic traits, and selected control variables (age, sex, hours worked, self-perceived library skills, school attended, a measure of intelligence, marital status, and major course of study) were obtained through the use of a specially prepared questionnaire instrument. Through the use of generalized scattergrams with both present study and pilot study data a possible simple linear relationship was found to obtain between library skills and library use in both instances. Bivariate Spearman correlations were then computed for all variables considered in the present study. Those variables showing a strength greater than 0.10 were "promoted" to Pearson correlation values and utilized as input for a multiple linear regression analysis. A conjectural model was constructed from the output of the multiple linear regression analysis which suggested that, if the direction of influence is ignored, the relative importance of the variables utilized in this procedure would be, from most important to least important, tested library skills, hours worked other than attending school, age, and self-perceived library skills.

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of using word processing and proofreading software in freshman composition at a community college. This study used pretest and posttest measures to determine if significant differences in the improvement of composition skills occurred between students in a composition class that did not use microcomputers and students in a composition class that did use microcomputers. Objective tests and writing samples were used as measurements. The population for the study consisted of students enrolled in freshman composition classes at a two year community college. Students self-selected enrollment in each class. Three hundred students who completed the pretest and posttest measures and completed the course were included in the study. There was no significant difference found in the improvement of writing skills between the two groups as measured by the objective test or the writing samples. There was a significant difference found in the withdrawal rate of students from the classes. The computer class had a significantly higher withdrawal rate than the non-computer class.

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