Photograph by ntr23. www.flickr.com
Final year Civil & Building students have recently taken the opportunity to share their views on the literature review process. As part of the Centre for Education for the Built Environment (CEBE) funded research project, “NEW Review”, final year students were asked for their feedback on a whole range of issues, from how important they felt the literature review was, how many sources they expected to search and read, and how confident they felt using the wide range of resources and services provided by the Library.
Of the 54 respondents, a pleasing 90% felt that the literature review was either very important or important compared with the rest of the dissertation. In fact most expected to search over 15 resources, read at least 11-20 sources and to continue their search over the lifetime of the project. However, there was a disconcerting lack of confidence about some the Library’s key resources. For example, 25% of students were not confident about what Metalib was, 40% were not confident about using it, 33% lacked confidence about what databases the Library has, and 50% lacked confidence about using SFX to locate full-text. 60% lacked confidence in using Refworks.
Students ranked well in other areas though. Over three-quarters felt they could recognise the bias and authority of a source. Over 80% felt they understood how to cite. Almost all students felt they understood plagiarism.
This data will help the project develop a new approach to teaching the literature review. Experimental work is currently underway to capture students’ information seeking activities online which will further assist the project’s aim.
For more information on the work of the project, please contact Prof Andrew Baldwin, Dept of Civil & Building, A.N.Baldwin@lboro.ac.uk or use the comment box below.
Posted by Lizzie Gadd 
