Developing the Senior Essay: Understanding the Undergraduate Research Process
Ethelene Whitmire
Librarian-in-Residence (1997 - 1999)
Yale University Library
I interviewed twenty Yale College undergraduates during the spring 1999 term about their information- seeking behavior as they completed their senior essay during the 1998-1999 academic year. Several topics emerged as I analyzed the interview transcripts. Students discussed the influence of faculty, peers, and librarians on their information-seeking behavior. Students also described searching for information by using library databases, browsing the collections, attending library instruction sessions, and citation chaining (e.g., using references in journal articles and books to find more information on a topic). Students also mentioned using library services including access services as they completed their senior essay.
Subjects
The majority of the participants were female (n=14, 70%) and the remaining students were male (n=6, 30%). All of the students were traditional-aged undergraduates (between 18 and 23 years old). I made an effort to interview students representing different academic disciplines:
Students in the social sciences majored in Anthropology, Psychology, and Sociology. Students in the humanities majored in Comparative Literature, English, and History. Students in the biological and physical sciences majored in Biology, Chemistry, and Computer Science. The racial/ethnic backgrounds of the participants were: Asian American (n=3, 15%), White/Caucasian (n=16, 80%), and Multiracial (n=1, 5%).
How representative was this group of subjects of Yale College undergraduates? According to data obtained from the Yale University Office of Institutional Research (www.yale.edu/oir), 49.4% of undergraduates’ are female and 50.6% are male. The average age of an undergraduate student is 20. The breakdown of declared majors of Yale College juniors and seniors was: Arts & Humanities (42%), social sciences (33%), biological and physical sciences (24%), and other arts & sciences (1%). The racial/ethnic breakdown of Yale College undergraduates is African American (8%), Native American (1%), Asian American (16%), Hispanic (7%), and White/other (69%). The group of subjects lacked racial and ethnic diversity, although the percentage of White and Asian American students fairly represented Yale College’s distribution. Male students and biological and physical sciences majors were also underrepresented. The age of the subjects was representative of the age of Yale College students.
Methods
I selected qualitative research methods, specifically personal interviews, as the research method for this study. Others have also used qualitative methods (e.g., interviews and focus groups) to elicit information from undergraduates’ about their library research process (Fister, 1992; Valentine, 1993, 1999).
Data Collection
I contacted faculty in charge of the senior essay courses or directors of undergraduate (DUGs) studies for various academic departments and was given either names of specific students to interview or a list of students enrolled for the senior essay requirement. I interviewed the twenty subjects during the spring 1999 term. The 30 – 45 minute interviews took place in either the Social Science Library or Sterling Memorial Library. I asked students to answer questions about their information-seeking behavior and questions designed to elicit information about their beliefs about the nature of knowledge (see Whitmire, 1999 and Whitmire, 2000 for further information). A list of the questions is in Appendix A. At the end of each session, I asked students to complete a survey about their demographic characteristics including their gender, race/ethnicity, major, and age. I gave participants either a $10 photocopying card for library use or a gift certificate for the university bookstore.
Data Analysis
I used Non-numerical Unstructured Data Indexing Searching and Theorising (NUD*IST) software to analyze the transcripts. I coded responses to highlight students’ information-seeking behavior.
Results of the Data Analysis
This section contains information about the topics that students selected for their senior essays, influences on their information-seeking behavior, how students searched for information, and the types of library services that students used.
A course that the student had taken, a work-related experience, or a suggestion from a professor often influenced students’ topic selection. Below is a list of some of the essay topics:
The Influence of Interactions with Faculty, Peers, And Librarians
Interactions with faculty
Faculty members had the greatest influence on students’ information-seeking behavior. A comparative literature major said that she "used faculty a lot to get recommendations on books". An English major doing a senior essay on a topic that included looking at illustrations in Dickens’ novels contacted a faculty member in the History of Art department at Yale on the recommendation of her faculty advisor. One student noted, "faculty recommendations are important". Another student said that, "faculty have given me advice on what to read". A student said that she " talked to my professor a lot and she gave me ideas for other books (to read)". A faculty advisor helped an English major get back on track.
Many students also contacted faculty at other universities in the United States and abroad. One student contacted a professor at Hebrew University in Israel. Another student contacted a research assistant from Israel who did her dissertation on a similar topic and was a visiting professor at Yale.
Graduate students and postdoctoral fellows also influenced students’ information-seeking behavior, especially students working in labs in the sciences and social science students who were working as a part of a research team in psychology. A psychology student said that her biggest influences were a graduate student and her advisor. A graduate student suggested that a student read a particular book. A graduate student helped an anthropology major to formulate her topic and to narrow it. A postdoctoral fellow and graduate student gave a chemistry major papers that they had written and she followed the citations.
Interactions with peers
Peers played an important role in helping students to complete their senior essay by suggesting sources and giving feedback. A comparative literature major discussed his papers with friends, "I had a couple of friends who were English majors with whom I discussed literature in general and they both had thoughts as I went along. It was good to use them as a sounding board to hear what my own ideas sounded like". A psychology major meets with four or five other students working on the same study, who discussed their senior essay projects at weekly meetings. A chemistry major had to present her senior essay topic at a forum through the Chemistry department. It was an opportunity to obtain feedback. An anthropology student mentioned the importance of the Mellon Forum. She not only learned about other students’ topics but also got to hear her fellow students discuss the process (e.g., what worked and didn’t work). She found that the forums were very helpful. An anthropology major also participated in the Mellon Forum run through the residential colleges. He also presented his paper at a conference in Haiti.
A fellow student suggested that a comparative literature major compare two books for the senior essay. An English major talked to other students about what books might or might not be relevant to her topic.
Interactions with librarians
Students cited many instances of working with librarians while completing their senior essays. A research librarian was able to help a comparative literature major to find an anthology that was very useful for his senior essay. An English major worked with the Philosophy Librarian to search Eureka. His research topic was more of a philosopher than a literary figure. A student using government documents received assistance from a librarian. She stated, "he was really helpful, and I found the stuff really fast".
Sometimes students confused library support staff with the professional librarians. An anthropology major noted that librarians were helpful, especially "getting them to call books down so I didn’t have to go searching". She must have been referring to the circulation staff.
An English major received help from the Beinecke reference staff who taught her how to read the Gimbel collection catalog to determine which editions were illustrated. She thought that "it’s pretty easy to get assistance here, I often talked to reference librarians". When a biology major had trouble finding sources his advisor suggested that he meet with Biological Sciences Librarian. He said, "we did a pretty exhaustive search. Lori was great. Lori helped me, instead of wasting weeks (searching for material)". Other students were reluctant to ask for help. An English major who could not find sources did not ask the library staff for help, she just gave up.
Information-Seeking
Students sought information by attending library instruction sessions, searching databases, citation chaining, and browsing.
Library instruction sessions
Students’ evaluation of the library instruction sessions differed. Some found them helpful while others did not. Many students appreciated getting the information about the library resources and services but they were not at the point of seriously working on their essays so the sessions were not that relevant.
A psychology student attended instruction sessions in the electronic classroom. But didn’t mention anything positive or negative about her experiences. A sociology student attended several library sessions offered through his department. He found them really helpful and that is how he learned about the social sciences citation index. A history student took a library instruction course taught by the Judaica curator. A chemistry major thought that the bibliographic instruction session came too late. She thought that a course should be taught earlier in the undergraduate career. An anthropology student had a library session for her Southeast Asian class. She thought it would be useful in the future but she hadn’t made use of it. An anthropology student attended some library sessions during her freshman and sophomore years. She had a good sense about how to use SML but not the other libraries. A sociology student attended a library session course but "it didn’t really help because I didn’t retain it" since she did not use the databases after the session. She felt that different people in the class had different needs. She would have preferred assistance during the time that she was actually doing the paper. Another student noted the instruction session with a curator was helpful, but the student wasn’t motivated to work on the essay at that point. A history major stated, "I thought it (the instruction session) was incredibly unhelpful. We spent literally 20 minutes learning how to use Orbis and these are senior history majors. We have to do two junior seminar papers. Most often we already had two of these sessions already. It’s the same thing. History majors know how to use Orbis. (These courses) might be useful to someone who hasn’t done a lot of research". An English major took a bibliographic instruction course on Irish Literature taught by the English Literature Librarian "that was helpful". Another English major said, "maybe there should be some mandatory thing for freshman teaching them how to use these things because I know a lot of people are confused about the Yale vs. LC classification. I think a lot of people don’t know what Beinecke has to offer". She admits that she probably would not have attended these sessions herself. But she thinks it should be mandatory like the safe sex and security meetings.
Searching databases
Almost all students mentioned using Orbis primarily for keyword searching. Most students did not know who to use the more advanced functions such as applying limits. Most students were aware of and used the database that was most appropriate for their academic discipline (e.g. Psychology students using PsycInfo). However, most students seemed unaware of more general databases such as ProQuest and WilsonWeb unless a peer or a faculty member mentioned it to them.
An English major who admitted that she "only recently got to know the library due to the senior essay. It’s not accessible". She had recently discovered keyword searching with author and title through a fellow student who served in a leadership capacity in the residential college. A professor suggested that a psychology student use the Web of Science. Another faculty member recommended that a student use ProQuest. A comparative literature major used the MLA and Orbis extensively. However, he didn’t know how to limit his search to the Divinity Library. An English major used JSTOR a lot because he used to work for them. A math and computer science major did not know how to use databases. He "never had to look up a journal or maybe I should have but just didn’t". A sociology student initially relied solely on electronic resources (e.g., Lexis/Nexis, WilsonWeb, Social Sciences Citation Index, etc.). He didn’t find what he was looking for. Coming to the library proved to be more fruitful. This student also noted the difference in what was available in the old Lexis/Nexis and the current Academic Universe database. A psychology students’ faculty member suggested she use the Web of Science database. She was able to use the more advanced features. She thought that the library had "wonderful resources" that she didn’t think a lot of people knew about which was good because you can’t log on if other people are using it. She "only had that problem once or twice". The only problem she had with some of the databases was the lack of holdings information. She also used OVID and PsycInfo. A psychology student used IDEAL and Medline. A sociology student used the social sciences citation index and recently learned about WilsonWeb. An anthropology student did not use databases; she searched through 10 years of a journal in her field. Another anthropology major used Anthropological Literature but did not find it helpful because her paper had a more archeological focus. She recently discovered ProQuest. A biology major who worked with a librarian used Medline, Biosis, Agricola, and Patent Info. A psychology student was disappointed that PsychInfo was no longer part of Orbis and she had to use the web version. Another psychology major also used PsycInfo. She too liked the old version with the holdings information. Now she had to take a second step and go to Orbis. She thought JSTOR was "cool, awesome". She likes the other full-text databases like ProQuest recommended by a faculty member in gender studies. She said, "I love full-text. You know it’s going to be there". She often found volumes were missing when she went to the library. A literature major used the MLA after someone told her how to do it. A history major used Eureka for manuscripts and archives. Another student used Eureka to look up newspapers. She said, "I miss ACAD, I really miss that a lot because it was so simple and on Orbis and I understand how to use it". An English major was aware of the MLA but didn’t need it for her essay. Another English major used the MLA but found it hard to use and had to sift through about 400 hits. While most students loved the full-text databases another student said, "I found WilsonWeb and ProQuest really unhelpful". A staff member at Mudd (or did the student mean Government Documents?) referred a History major to American History and Life database. A friend of a psychology major referred her to the IDEAL database. An English major and a comparative literature major were the only students who mentioned using the card catalog.
Citation chaining
Many students mentioned using references in journal articles and books as a way of finding new sources for their essays. Some library and information science researchers call that chaining.
A psychology student said, "I looked in the reference section and if they mentioned something that seemed to be a key paper then I would want to go look it up". Another student " found a few books and looked at their bibliographies". A chemistry major followed the citations from research done by a postdoctoral fellow and graduate student in her lab. An anthropology major got journal articles first and then looked at the bibliographies. An English major used references in books to other books. Another student "used Orbis and indexes in books or bibliographies in books that I had read". An anthropology major used the reference lists in 3 books that two faculty members recommended.
Browsing
Many students mentioned browsing the stacks to find books and journal articles. Students often browsed out of frustration after fruitlessly searching electronic databases.
A math and computer science major used browsing to compensate for not being able to find everything in Orbis. He seemed suprised that he found material in the stacks that was not in Orbis. He thinks that Orbis should be a better search engine. A chemistry major browses current and older journals. She "found the Chemistry Library system to be hard to use" but finds the Kline Science Library to be "pretty well organized". However, a math and computer science major, formerly a biochemistry major, liked the Chemistry Library a lot and was given a lot of assistance when he used it. A sociology student who initially relied upon electronic sources found that browsing the journals was the most helpful. Just going to the journals in the Social Science Library and flipping through the table of contents proved to be the "most useful" technique of finding information. He came to the library out of frustration. Browsing the journals influenced his use of the communication literature for his senior essay. An anthropology student looked at indexes of books in the stacks. Another student said that she "has gone through the ethnomusicology journal for the past ten years". She did not use the databases to search for journal articles. An anthropology major found a pivotal article in the Kline Anthropology Library, "which I actually was just randomly looking through a journal and found this article. Actually that was the best way, just to look through every single issue". A student found a small publishing house in Montreal that had books about Haiti. He browsed the Health section consisting of about six shelves.
Services and Resources
Collections
Students were very appreciative of the breadth and depth of the Yale University Library collection. Students were surprised that Yale had almost all of the sources found in the bibliographies of their books and journal articles. An anthropology student was amazed by the library’s collection on any random topic. One student stated, "it’s really impressive about how great the library here is. They have every book under the sun. It was just so much here, so much to choose from, they have every memoir of every person involved in Italian intellectual circles in resistance and Jews and non-Jews. It was really great, there was just too much to choose from so I had to randomly choose. I have gained a new appreciation for the library because they had these memoirs that I actually was the first person to take out of the library". Another student thought, "Yale students are pretty lucky" to have access to such a large collection of materials. An anthropology student stated, "anything I heard of I had access to. Yale had access to or had all the material I could use for the senior essay". Another student who had recently begun to check out poetry books and novels for pleasure discovered the collection of French-Canadian literature. He stated, "there’s a huge collection, which is amazing".
Other libraries and bookstores
Despite Yale University Library’s large collection, many students either used other libraries/archives or purchased books both in the United States and abroad. A psychology student from Los Angeles paid to be a friend of a library so that she could check out books from Cat State-Northridge during the summer vacation. She also looked up books on the University of Pennsylvania’s web site and her friend checked out the books for her. A History student used the Schlesinger Library in Hartford several times after coming across some interesting documents in the archives. She discovered the library through searching for documents in Eureka.
An anthropology student traveled to Vietnam and used a library for her research. She said, "the library there was very different". She also purchased several books. Another student used a library in Italy during the summer before her senior year.
An anthropology major, whose topic focused upon an area near her birthplace, used the local library in Massachusetts during the summer. Her mother FedExed her some sources during the school year because ILL would have taken too long. A sociology major purchased books from Barnes & Noble when Yale didn’t have them or the due date was too far in the future.
Journals
How do undergraduates’ want their journals? They want either full-text journals or their journals in alphabetical order in one location. Students were not pleased with the SML journal arrangement.
One student said, "there’s a lot of stuff on-line now which is cool". Another said, "the full-text journals are great". Full-text journals save him time and he can work from his room. A sociology student preferred using the journals at SSL instead of SML because of how the journals were organized. A psychology student who used both SML and the Medical Library preferred the Medical Library. It was "such a relief" that the journals were in alphabetical order. One student couldn’t find journals in the stack although Orbis stated that they were there. She said, "I was really frustrated, this is something that I think is really bad about the Yale system". Another student thought that the journal system was poor. It was very frustrating to try to find journals. A student who used both SML and the Medical Library preferred the Medical library because the journals were better organized and students didn’t need to use a call number and the journals were centrally located. She preferred using the Medical Library because there’s "more of a chance you’ll find journals on the shelf. Less stuff is missing". A psychology student was frustrated when current (1999) journals were missing.
Access services
In general, students were pleased that they could renew and recall books online, but were very displeased that they were not notified through email about overdue books and the arrival of ILL, Eli Express, or recalled items. Many students also suggested a longer loan period for seniors since some essays are either a semester-long or year-long and require so many books that overdue fines became exorbitant.
Most students did not use ILL because they thought it would take to long to get a item or they did not want to bother with the process and decided to rely on what was available. One student did not use ILL because "it’s hard for me to determine which books are valuable enough to bring through". A literature major came across two dissertations in the MLA. She never retrieved them. She didn’t know how and was going to ask a librarian but didn’t do it because she thought it would be too much work.
A psychology student complained about the short loan period for undergraduate students. A math and computer science major had to renew a book 4 or 5 times because of the short loan period. One student suggested that seniors should be able to take books out for as long as graduate students. The student argued that seniors needed a much longer borrowing period for this major paper. The short circulation period is "a hassle without a real point since you can always recall books if someone needs them. It’s such a large quantity of books and if you forget for one day it’s a lot of money. The other problem is they mail notices, they should email students".
Another student suggested that the circulation staff should make the 3-day reserve due date more explicit. The student said that sometimes the circulation staff informs the student that it’s a 3-day reserve book. She thought that getting an overdue letter was slow. An email would be better so that the book is not overdue for a week by the time the letter arrives. She does like renewing books by email.
Another student stated, "I’m annoyed that they never use email to contact you about fines and if your interlibrary loan stuff is in, that’s really annoying". She likes that you can recall books online but she would like to be able to access her records. "I racked up so many fines because with the senior essay you have like 50 books".
One student noted, "the recall program is excellent". A psychology student used the recall service but the notification was sent to her office, she would have preferred receiving an email. A comparative literature major used Eli Express to get books from the Divinity Library but he would prefer being notified by email because there was a "significant lag" between when the book was received by the library and when he was notified.
Miscellaneous
A few students expressed concerns about other aspects of library services. A comparative literature major was the only one to complain about too many students using the computers in the SML nave for email. He said, "basically they are all used for email and if you want to do research you have to wander and pounce". Although there are dedicated Orbis terminals he said you might need to search the MLA database too. Another student stated, "copying is expensive". The math and computer science major mentioned that copying is 4 cents at Dunham vs. 15 cents in the libraries. One student suggested that since students often work on their senior essays during the vacations he would appreciate it if the library hours were extended during those times. Finally, a student was concerned about the condition of the books. He thought that many books were fragile and were exposed to the too hot and dusty stacks, which was an "unhealthy environment for the books".
This was a pilot study based upon the responses of a small number of Yale College students who completed a senior essay. Because of the small sample size, the self-selected sample, and the under-representation of men, biological and physical sciences majors, and students of color (with the exception of Asian American students), the views of these students may not be representative of all Yale College students. However, I do believe that these students do provide some insights into the information-seeking behavior of students as they complete a major research project at Yale College.
Any questions? Feel free to contact me at 608-262-8952 or ewhitmire@facstaff.wisc.edu
Bibliography
Fister, B. (1992). The research processes of undergraduate students. Journal of Academic Librarianship, 18(3), 163-169.
Valentine, B. (1993). Undergraduate research behavior: Using focus groups to generate theory. Journal of Academic Librarianship, 19(5), 300-304.
Valentine, B. (1999). Students versus the research paper: What can we learn? Proceedings of the Ninth National Conference for the Association of College and Research Libraries (Detroit, MI, April 1999).
Appendix A. Questions
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