رفتار اطلاع يابي دانشجويان تحصيلات تكميلي دانشگاه آزاد اسلامي در استفاده از شبكه جهاني وب

of Islamic Azad University in using the Word Wide Web

This Survey research focuses on information seeking behavior of post-graduate students of Islamic Azad University in using the WWW based on Ellisʹ model. A sample of 299 doctoral students studying in the Science & Research unit of Tehran, Ahvaz, Arak and Mashhad were asked to fill in the questionnaire. The results showed that the students realized Internet influencing their research and educational activities highly, although they are faced with some barriers and limitations in using it. They used different approaches and strategies in each phase of their information seeking behaviors but there are some frequently used ones as follows: using search engines to identify proper websites appropriate to their information needs, selecting and following cross hyperlinks to other related websites based on subject relevancy, differentiating useful sites from others based on their content quality and subject relationship, and using current Awareness services of their favorite websites and membership in electronic discussion groups to monitor their interested research fields. It was revealed that the studentsʹ information seeking behaviors are similar to Ellisʹ model, although there is significant difference among the behaviors of students in different educational departments.