The main purpose of this thesis is to examine whether the ISP (the Information Search Process) as defined by Carol Kuhlthau is applicable to Swedish University students. Qualitative interviews were carried out with students enrolled in their thesis course at the end of their university education. The selection is based on convenience sample of students visiting the university library. The questions are mainly about how to find out the experiences of the students when they look for documents at the beginning of their thesis work. Other relevant questions are about user-education, information literacy and what the students' opinions are concerning a thesis as a part of their education. The result of the study is presented in two parts. The first in relation to Kuhlthau's ISP and the second part to other relevant questions. The ISP can be identified with small deviations from the way Kuhlthau defines it. The other part of the result tells us that the information literacy among our students is not what we would like it to be. / Uppsatsnivå: D

This study explored university students' information needs and seeking behaviors on the Internet. A Web-based survey was administrated one time. Two hundred responses were received from the target sample within the two weeks period of the study. Data were analyzed with descriptive statistics, factor analysis, and graphical representation. The study explored various issues related to the usability, preferences, and activities of the Internet, such as searching tools, e-mail, search engines, and preferred primary sources of everyday-life information needs. The study explored the perceptions of the students toward the Internet and the traditional library. Kuhlthau's model of the information-seeking process, which includes six stages and affective components, was utilized and modified in the construction of the Web survey. A study by Presno (1998), which includes the four types of Internet anxiety, was utilized in the construction of the Web survey. With regard to the six stages of Kuhlthau model, the majority of the respondents experienced stage 5, which was about information gathering; stage 3 had the next highest number of respondents. Very few respondents experienced stages 1 and 2. There was a systematic pattern in which, the earlier the stages the respondents were in, the more negative adjectives they selected, and vice versa. The feeling adjectives section showed a difference in the behavior between males and females. The results indicated that most students had Internet time delay anxiety. In general, the study found that students have a great interest in the Internet and consider it an important source of information for their personal, educational, and communication activities.

The aim of this master’s thesis is in part to investigate how pupils act and experience their information seeking in connection with a school task, and in part to identify which factors influence the information process. The essay’s theoretical framework is based upon Carol C. Kuhlthau’s model of the process of information seeking where actions, thoughts and feelings are regarded as integrated parts. Over and above these, we add a series of factors which influence pupils’ information seeking to this model. These factors are elucidated on the basis of earlier research, and we emphasize in particular the considerations of Louise Limberg and Mikael Alexandersson since they are contextualised in the school situation. Combined methods have been applied in this investigation. Through observation and interviews we have been able to explore how pupils set about seeking for information, and by interviewing we have reflected upon the pupils’ experiences of information seeking. Through observation and interviews we have even attempted to clarify what affects pupils’ information seeking. Our main result shows that there are variations among pupils’ information seeking and even how they experience this process. The different styles of seeking are mirrored in their actions, thoughts and emotions. One conclusion that can be drawn from our result is that pupils require supervision, support and understanding of the tension that can often occur in relation to seeking information. Another conclusion is that pupils who cooperate with one another experience fewer episodes of tension and that information seeking is perceived to be easier and learning more pleasurable. / Uppsatsnivå: D

The purpose of this essay is to explore how students in secondary school seek out and use information. More specifically, the essay examines how the search and use of information differs between students working in groups and students working independently. The essay draws on in-depth interviews with six students. Two different theories are used to analyse the transcripts from the interviews. The first theory consists of Carol Kuhlthau’s six different stages showing how the students’ feelings, emotions and actions change during the information seeking process. The second theory is Louise Limberg’s category describing the different approaches to information seeking among students in secondary school. The analysis of the results shows that the interviewed can be contained in Limberg’s category A. This means that the students lack knowledge when they search for and use information. Even students who are working together lack knowledge in this. However, the students are rather good at evaluating the information. At the same time, many of the interviewed did not feel confident during the process of information seeking. To obtain help in searching for information, the students use their supervisor (teacher) rather than the librarian. The conclusion is that the method of working in groups should be changed and students can learn to work together in groups if the teacher takes a more active role during the process and help the students to work together. They also need more help from their teachers in processing and evaluating information and the students also need more help from the librarian in searching for information.

<p>The project examines the information seeking behaviour of a small group of so-called Generation Y students at the Stellenbosch University as they undertake an academic&nbsp / assignment. There is consensus across the world that universities need to adapt to the needs of Generation Y students, brought up with high-level information technology, the internet and social networking. However, research shows that this does not mean that they are information literate. They have high-tech skills but often do not know how to analyse an information need or discriminate between information sources. Information scientist Carol Kuhlthau develop the ISP model upon which the study was based. Her model sees information seeking as a complex cognitive and affective process. Successful seekers have learned how to manage the process. University libraries need to adapt their information retrieval systems and services to meet the needs of their new kinds of students. The study, a small-scale intensive qualitative case study, hopes to provide insight into how they might do this. The researcher collected data while the participants were writing the assignment. Data gathering methods included interviews, journal writings and questionnaires.</p>

<p>The project examines the information seeking behaviour of a small group of so-called Generation Y students at the Stellenbosch University as they undertake an academic&nbsp / assignment. There is consensus across the world that universities need to adapt to the needs of Generation Y students, brought up with high-level information technology, the internet and social networking. However, research shows that this does not mean that they are information literate. They have high-tech skills but often do not know how to analyse an information need or discriminate between information sources. Information scientist Carol Kuhlthau develop the ISP model upon which the study was based. Her model sees information seeking as a complex cognitive and affective process. Successful seekers have learned how to manage the process. University libraries need to adapt their information retrieval systems and services to meet the needs of their new kinds of students. The study, a small-scale intensive qualitative case study, hopes to provide insight into how they might do this. The researcher collected data while the participants were writing the assignment. Data gathering methods included interviews, journal writings and questionnaires.</p>

Thesis (Ed. D.)--University of Massachusetts, Lowell, 1995. / "UMI number: 9529622." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 195-208).

Magister Bibliothecologiae - MBibl / The project examines the information seeking behaviour of a small group of so-called Generation Y students at the Stellenbosch University as they undertake an academic assignment. There is consensus across the world that universities need to adapt to the needs of Generation Y students, brought up with high-level information technology, the internet and social networking. However, research shows that this does not mean that they are information literate. They have high-tech skills but often do not know how to analyse an information need or discriminate between information sources. Information scientist Carol Kuhlthau develop the ISP model upon which the study was based. Her model sees information seeking as a complex cognitive and affective process. Successful seekers have learned how to manage the process. University libraries need to adapt their information retrieval systems and services to meet the needs of their new kinds of students. The study, a small-scale intensive qualitative case study, hopes to provide insight into how they might do this. The researcher collected data while the participants were writing the assignment. Data gathering methods included interviews, journal writings and questionnaires. / South Africa

The aim of this study is to ascertain where pupils in primaryschool search for information when they have a specific question to answer. I also question how they explain their choice, how they perceive the results of their search process and what perceptions librarian and teachers hold regarding students' informationretrieval. I focus in particular on how the pupils’ made their choice: nonfiction books contra the Internet in order to discover whether orn ot Internet has, by and large, replaced nonfiction books for pupils.The empirical data was collected through interviews with fourpupils, their teacher and their school librarian. The material has beenanalysed and interpreted based upon Carol C. Kuhlthaus´ teachingmodel and previous research. The results of my study indicate that nonfiction books have lost theirr elevance in terms of pupils' information retrieval. Pupils’ firstchoice when searching for information is Internet. Howevernonfiction material has still an important role to play. Many slowreaders or readers who are generally uninterested in reading fiction choose to read nonfiction for pleasure. Reading nonfiction also improves reading skills and in particular reading comprehension. Moreover all pupils must learn how to read for information and to understand what they are reading before they are able to navigate the more advanced texts used on Internet. Thereby it is possible to explain a demand for well written nonfiction literature both now and in the future.

Denna uppsats undersöker informationssökningsprocessen hos en grupp utvalda ungdomar på Örnsköldsviks stadsbibliotek. Syftet har varit att undersöka och förstå unga biblioteksbesökares information seeking behavior i ett annorlunda bokuppställningssystem. Örnsköldsviks stadsbibliotek valde, efter KB:s beslut om nedläggning av SAB 2008, ett relativt nytt sätt att placera och ställa upp sina böcker på. Det nya systemet kallas Rainbow och det guidar besökaren genom tydliga ämneskategorier, klartext och färger. Med Carol. C. Kuhlthaus ISP- modell i sex steg som stöd, vilken beskriver tankar, känslor och ageranden under en informationssökningsprocess, undersöks hur de unga besökarna tog sig an sin informationssökning på Örnsköldsviks bibliotek. Genom intervjuer och observationer av de unga biblioteksanvändarna, samt ytterligare intervjuer med bibliotekets bibliotekarier, har material och information insamlats och analyserats kring hur ungdomarnas informationssökningsprocesser gått till. Resultaten från undersökningen visade att de intentioner som informationssökaren initialt bär med sig i sökprocessen påverkar sökresultatet. Det visade sig också att känslor, tankar och ageranden, som respondenterna förväntades att uppleva, till viss del skilde sig från de upplevelser som Kuhlthaus respondenter beskrivit vid sina informationssökningar, och vilka har legat till grund för ISP- modellen. I och med att studien behandlar folkbibliotek och ungdomarnas fritid var respondenterna på Örnsköldsviks bibliotek inte heller lika medvetna, något som tycktes tydligt redan från start, om sin egen sökproces som Kuhlthaus respondenter varit. Men denna undersöknings respondenter uppgav dock att bokuppställningen i sig fungerade bra för dem att söka information i.