Development of information search expertise: Postgraduates' knowledge of searching skills

This paper reports on a study of the development of information searching expertise by 12 postgraduate research students. Six of the students were studying education, and six were studying engineering. The paper focuses on the students' perception of the importance of searching skills and the growth of their knowledge with these skills as they progressed through their studies. The study takes a longitudinal approach, using surveys, interviews, direct observations of students' searching behavior, as well as analysis of their thoughts over a one-year period. Findings reveal that, in the beginning, students performed more questionable subject searches and fewer keyword searches; later, as they understood more about subject searching and the power of keyword searches, they performed fewer subject searches but with greater accuracy and more keyword searches. The study also found that education students tended to use more complex keyword searches and formed more sophisticated search queries than did engineering students and that students' perception of the importance of searching skills increased as these skills became more familiar; this, in turn, led to more frequent use of the skills.