Where Do Community College Students Go for their Reference Management Needs: Findings from a Survey StudyManagement Needs: Findings from a Survey Study

Authors

Ajatshatru Pathak, CUNY Hunter CollegeFollow
Sarah Johnson, University of Illinois at Urbana-ChampaignFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

Spring 3-18-2023

Abstract

This research article reports the findings of a survey that was conducted at two community
colleges affiliated with a large public university system in the Northeast of the United States. A
survey was to explore community college students’ citation management help- seeking habits.
Findings suggest that respondents were more likely to utilize Purdue University’s Online Writing
Lab (OWL) website for reference management help than other resources. The results also show
the impact of various factors (i.e., institution, academic level, undergraduate class level, field of
study, age, gender, race/ethnicity, and user type) on students’ citation help -seeking practices.
Significant statistical associations were found between variables (institution, academic level,
race/ethnicity, and field of study) and ways of seeking citation help. The authors discuss the
implications for academic libraries and recommendations for future research.