Graduates’ information seeking behavior / Maslinda Mohd Nadzir, Juhana Salim and Azizah Jaafar

Past studies on information seeking behaviour among students showed that
some students are weak in the process of searching for information. The problem should
be resolved as there are students who are not exposed to the knowledge of searching for
information. This study emphasizes on information seeking behaviour among graduate
students involved in research activities. This paper aims to identify graduates’ information
seeking behaviour. Based on past research, factors influencing information seeking
behaviour are graduate’s field of study, learning styles and information skills. Thus,
information seeking behaviour conceptual framework developed in this study consists
of the individual factors that influence information seeking behaviour which comprises
of information needs, selection of information sources, methods used to search for
information and the use of information. The findings of this study showed that majority of
graduate students’ prefer to search for their needed information in electronic environment.
Information seeking behaviour patterns among graduate students that has been identified,
can be used by system analysts to develop a system which can be used by students
in the processes of seeking for information to support their research. The improvement
on students’ information seeking behaviour will be able to help in building quality human
capital.