Where do I find that?: A user study of the information sources of postgraduate Humanities students

Abstract

This study investigated the information seeking behaviour of Masters students in the humanities within a New Zealand context. Only those students undertaking a Masters degree by thesis at Victoria University of Wellington were included in the study. The aim of the study was to gain an understanding of which information sources and methods postgraduate humanities students utilised in order to satisfy course related information needs. Data was gathered from an anonymous mailed survey. The report concludes that traditional paper based sources, such as monographs and journals, are still the most important information source for humanities students. The World Wide Web was consistently high in all survey areas, indicating an increase in the use of web based sources for information seeking. Postgraduate humanities students will readily seek information from outside sources in order to satisfy course related information needs. Informal channels of communication are important among postgraduate humanities students, and age may not affect the use of electronic sources.