Year seven students, information literacy skills and transfer: a grounded theory

This study took place in three state secondary schools in rural New South Wales. The key aims of the study were to a) examine and interpret the views of year seven students in these schools, on their reflections on and use of a range of information literacy skills and techniques; b) to examine and interpret the views of year seven students in these schools, on the extent to which they transferred information literacy skills across time and across subjects; and c) to develop a grounded theory relating to a) and b) above. The study also sought to interpret the views of students, teachers and teacher librarians on students' reflections on and use of a range of information literacy skills and techniques, including brainstorming, concept mapping, question formulation, information retrieval, evaluation of sources, evaluation of information and ideas within sources, note taking and assignment writing. The study took an interpretivist approach and used constructivist grounded theory as its methodology. Data was gathered in the form of observation, student diaries, student questionnaires, and interviews with students, teachers and teacher librarians. Data analysis used grounded theory techniques, including initial and focused coding, category formulation and theoretical sampling.