Students and Information Seeking The experiences of five students searching for Information in the context of writing a bachelor thesis

The purpose of this study is to examine the experiences of five students searching for information in the context of writing a bachelor thesis. The main questions regard what strategies they use whilst searching for information, their relevance judgements and their feelings. The method used is the qualitative interview. The students were doing their third term in psychology. All the students were interviewed twice while working on the thesis. The first interview was conducted at the beginning of their work, the second one at the end of it. The result of the study shows that three different strategies were used in order to get information. Those were browsing the library shelves and electronic sources, searching the reference list of books and articles and finally turning to another individual. As far as their relevance criteria are concerned the students all agreed on three main criteria: research based material, an author known as an authority and recently published literature. The results also show that students feelings varied during their work. In the beginning they expressed feelings of frustration and anxiety, and some of them showed lack of confidence. At the second interview they all spoke about their work in much more positive ways and seemed to be relieved.Uppsatsnivå: