Off-Campus Graduate Survey: Comfort and Seeking Assistance with Research

As a group, you reported being comfortable with most aspects of research, except for "using advanced searching features in library databases," "determining if the library has what you need," and "evaluating information sources."

Remember that the library offers many methods to contact the reference librarians for assistance; see our Get Help page for details.

We asked on-campus graduate students the same questions and asked faculty to rate the importance and student performance of these research skills; see their responses:
Faculty | On-Campus Graduates

Overall scores:

	Average score (5 = "Very Comfortable")	Percentage seeking help "Very Often" or "Somewhat Often"
Choosing and refining a research topic	4.33	17.8%
Choosing research databases	4.15	24.1%
Searching within research databases	4.12	29.5%
Using advanced searching features	3.66	29.2%
Determining if the library has what you need	3.91	33.7%
Evaluating information sources	3.87	13.5%
Citing sources correctly	4.18	13.6%
Using information ethically	4.48	12.4%

We welcome further input. Please email library@up.edu with your comments and suggestions.