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Table 2 Results of Needs Assessment

From: Why not just Google it? An assessment of information literacy skills in a biomedical science curriculum

Preferred Database or Search Engine

Cohort (C1)

n = 84

Cohort (C2)

n = 76

Total (C1+C2)

n = 160

Google

n = 40 (47.6%)

n = 28 (36.8%)

n = 68 (42.5%)

PubMed

n = 25 (29.7%)

n = 20 (26.3%)

n = 45 (28.1%)

Wikipedia

n = 11 (13.1%)

n = 16 (21.1%)

n = 27 (16.9%)

Google Scholar

n = 4 (4.8%)

n = 9 (11.8%)

n = 13 (8.1%)

Medline

n = 2 (2.4%)

n = 1 (1.3%)

n = 3 (1.9%)

Medscape

n = 0 (0.0%)

n = 2 (2.6%)

n = 2 (1.3%)

CINAHL

n = 2 (2.4%)

n = 0 (0.0%)

n = 2 (1.3%)

Additional or Not Listed Databases/Search Engines

Frequency of responses:

  
 

C1

n = 84

C2

n = 76

Total

n = 160

Yahoo

15

4

19 (11.9%)

SciVerse Scopus

9

5

14 (8.8%)

Library website

8

2

10 (6.3%)

Facebook, YouTube, etc.

8

2

10 (6.3%)

EBSCO

0

0

0 (0%)

Academic Search Premier

0

5

5 (3.1%)

ScienceDirect, WebMD

0

3

3 (1.9%)

None/Not Listed

44

56

100 (62.5%)

Most Helpful or Useful

C1

C2

Total

Google

44

22

66 (41.3%)

Wikipedia

17

21

38 (23.8%)

PubMed

11

15

26 (16.3%)

Other (Medline, Scopus)

10

14

24 (15.0%)

Not Listed

2

4

6 (3.8%)

Most Difficult or

Least Helpful

C1

C2

Total

PubMed

43

26

69 (43.1%)

None/Not Listed

21

24

45 (28.1%)

Other (MSN, Yahoo)

12

8

20 (12.5%)

Other (Medline, Medscape)

7

9

16 (10.0%)

Library website

1

9

10 (6.3%)