On-campus graduate students say they are most confident with choosing a research topic and understanding the ethics of information; they are least confident with figuring out which library databases to use, and evaluating sources. This is a change from the 2011 survey when we asked about comfort with performing research activities, and students reported being least comfortable with using advanced searching features (a question not asked in 2016) and with determining if the library had needed items.
As a comparison, see how faculty teaching graduate students rated the importance and student performance of these research skills, and look at off-campus graduate students’ confidence levels.
[su_table]
| Very + Somewhat Confident | Not Confident+ Somewhat Not Confident | Select Thumbnail to View Chart | |
| Choosing a research topic | 85.5% | 3.2% |  |
| Narrowing a research topic | 82.3% | 3.2% |  |
| Figuring out which library databases to use | 66.1% | 19.4% |  |
| Searching within library databases | 72.6% | 17.8% |  |
| Figuring out how to get or request full text | 75.8% | 14.5% |  |
| Evaluating information sources | 70.9% | 13.0% |  |
| Incorporating sources into your paper | 80.4% | 6.5% |  |
| Citing sources correctly | 74.2% | 8.1% |  |
| Understanding the ethics of using information | 88.7% | 3.2% |  |
[/su_table]