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Boatwright Memorial Library

Fall 2024 Pre- and Post-Test Data

Context for Data and Narratives

  • Both the pre- and post-tests feature the same twelve questions, with slight variations in wording to account for different periods (ex. asking students about the number of research papers they’ve written in high school vs. their first semester of college).

  • In previous years, the post-test was distributed at the end of Spring Semester as opposed to Fall, as a result of moving from two FYS sections to one. As such, we will account for this for any data comparisons to previous years, especially as it relates to the post-test.

  • The data points below represent a sample of the questions and responses from first-year students that are indicative of their growth as researchers in Fall Semester and the skills targeted by liaison librarians in our FYS instruction sessions. You can see the full list of test questions via the PDF linked below.

1. Student Participation

Chart titled "Percent of first-year students who completed the FYS Pre-Test"   Chart titled "Percent of first-year students who completed the FYS Post-Test"

Chart titled "Percent of FYS classes visited by a liaison librarian"

  • First-year students access the tests via a common “FYS Library Research” Blackboard course they are all added into before the start of Fall Semester. Librarians schedule regular announcements via that course, reminding students to take the exams at regular intervals throughout their first and final two weeks of the semester.

  • Participation in the pre-test among first-year students has always been high, averaging ~95% in previous years. However, this semester’s first-years were particularly engaged, in that 49 students completed the pre-test before we had even sent out the first cohort-wide announcement!

  • This trend carried into the 88% post-test completion percentage, which was ~20-30% higher than in previous years. At least some of this can be explained by distributing the post-test at the end of Fall as opposed to Spring. We are excited to see if this trend continues in future years.

  • Liaison librarians pride ourselves on our ability to reach every first-year student via a guaranteed, dedicated instruction session in every FYS course. It is an instrumental part of our instruction model, and something we will continue to foster through our partnership with the FYS program.

 

2. Writing Research Papers

Chart titled "Number of research papers written in the last two years of high school (Pre-Test) and during Fall Semester (Post-Test)"

  • As will be a reoccurring trend, our first-year students come to UR with significant experience with research and writing, with over half of the cohort having written at least five research papers in their last two years of high school. That said, we noticed a drop in the number of students writing at least five papers during their Fall Semester, and corresponding increases in the lower categories.

  • Many entry-level courses, and FYS in particular, focus on introducing students to collegiate-level written communication skills and unique “modes of expression”. This can result in a much wider potential array of research products (ex. annotated bibliographies, public speeches, structured debates) that better scaffold students up to the rigor necessary for scholarly research papers.

 

3. Citation Styles

Chart titled "Pre-Test: If you completed a research paper [in high school], what specific citation style(s) were you required to use? (select all that apply)"

Chart titled "Post-Test: If you completed a research paper or assignment this semester, what specific citation style(s) were you required to use? (select all that apply)"

  • It is not surprising to see over 90% of first-years come to UR with MLA citation style experience, as it is typically the first citation style taught in secondary schools. A not insignificant number of students also arrive on campus with at least some understanding of APA style and Chicago/Turabian style.

  • It is also not surprising to see that MLA domination fracture after Fall Semester, as students gain exposure to citation styles preferred by different disciplines. However, the gap between first-year students’ incoming citation experience and required citation styles at UR is stark, particularly for Chicago/Turabian style (~21% to 56%). Familiarity with one citation style does not always translate to comfort using another, especially in the higher stakes realm of university.

  • We believe this demonstrates the benefit of teaching citation practices from the same introductory level as collegiate-level writing, even when using MLA or not requiring a specific style. Citing sources properly remains an area of stress for many students we work with in the library, so establishing a solid foundation of specific citation practices early in their time at UR will surely pay dividends in the future.

 

4. When/Why of Citations

Image that reads "When are you required to cite a source?"

Chart titled "Why is it necessary to cite the sources you use?"

  • It’s comforting to see that first-years overwhelmingly understand the variety of reasons they must cite evidence in their research products, in particular those in the “why” category. Though as the previous, and next, data points demonstrate, this understanding in a multiple-choice question format does not always result in proper citations in practice.

  • Still, we believe this is an excellent indication of our first-year students’ previous academic experience and ability to conceptualize proper citations as more than just extra points on an assignment.

 

5. Deciphering Citations

Chart titled "For each of the following items: identify whether the item is a book, journal article, book chapter, or website."

  • An ability to identify resources by their citation, regardless of format, is an essential skill in a first-year student’s development, bridging their writing practices with the incredible amount of scholarly resources now just a search string away. By and large, first-year students can do this quite well, with at least 50% correctly identifying all four different resource types at the start of their first college semester. We also saw notable increases (+10-18%) from the beginning to the end of Fall in identifying journal articles, an area liaison librarians specifically address in FYS instruction sessions.

  • This remains an area of development for many as well. Looking at the data another way, around 30-40% of first-years still struggle with deciphering journal article citations even after a semester’s worth of instruction. Regardless of a first-year’s area of study or previous citation experience, we believe that continued repetition and practice with this foundational research skill will pay dividends down the road.

 

6. Defining Research/Library Terminology

First chart titled "Match the following terms to their definition:"

Second chart titled "Match the following terms to their definition"

  • The above data represents just some of the payoffs of liaison library instruction in FYS. Even though first-year students come to UR with experience in the basic vocabulary of academic research, there is always room for improvement, especially when putting that vocabulary into practice in different disciplinary/assignment contexts. As such, the library’s focus on drilling these building blocks of research in FYS and other first-year dominant courses. With each metric increasing by at least 6% (and some increasing by as much as 15%), this demonstrates the kind of growth our first-year students experience in Fall Semester.