information literacy of doctoral researchers’: ease of finding required information dr. taruna...
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INFORMATION LITERACY OF DOCTORAL RESEARCHERS’:
EASE OF FINDING REQUIRED INFORMATION
Dr. Taruna JoshiLibrarian
Ramjas College, University of Delhi,Delhi 110007.
INTRODUCTION
I
nformation skills- formulate and analyze need; identify and appraise
likely sources; locate individual resources; examine, select and reject
sources; interrogate sources; record and store information; interpret,
analyze, synthesize and evaluate information collected; present and
communicate resulting work and evaluate what has been achieved.
S
cience discipline was selected for this study due to its traditional reliance
on the journal literature, a format that moved quickly onto the web.
NEEDS OF DOCTORAL RESEARCHERS
D
octoral research starts with a comprehensive review of related
literature, which requires the researcher to have excellent
information skills.
“
Doctoral students have the greatest information requirements
and therefore the greatest need for information skills of all
students. It might be argued that their need is even greater, in
some ways, than that of established academics.”
METHODOLOGY
A
questionnaire was developed and administered to the
science doctoral researchers of University of Delhi (DU),
Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI), Jawaharlal Nehru University
(JNU) and Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IITD).
D
ata was analyzed with SPSS version 16.
DATA ANALYSIS- DESCRIPTION OF SAMPLE
6
71 doctoral researchers from different streams in sciences
pursuing research at central universities in Delhi and IITD,
answered the questionnaires.
T
his research work aimed to establish the baseline information
literacy competency of doctoral researchers, which could be used
for addressing the shortcomings in the level of information
literacy competency expected from them.
Distribution of Researchers by University/Institute
FINDING REQUIRED INFORMATION QUICKLY
P
hD students have confidence in their own
information searching skills and the use of
information discovery, but in reality their
information literacy may not be good
enough.
CONCLUSION
N
eed for information is very high amongst doctoral researchers, but they find gaps in
their search results.
T
hus there is a need for training in information skills tailor-made for the doctoral
researchers.
T
he responsibility for training students in information skills should become part of
the guidelines for research supervision produced by research bodies and
universities.
S
uch a training could ideally be imparted at different stages of doctoral research.
THANKS