Undergraduate Term Paper Citation Patterns by Disciplines and Level of Course

Abstract

The investigators collected 1775 term papers and projects from students at four institutions: East Texas Baptist University, Oregon State University, Texas A&M University, and Westmar Colege. Undergraduate students did make extensive use of library collections. Use varied by disciplines: the percentage of books to journals almost exactly reverses from the humanities (68% books/19% journals) to the sciences (21% books/65% journals). The social sciences used 57% books and 33% journals. Use of other types of information, such as citations, was fairly constant at 10- 14%. The average number of citations appears to increase from sophomore to junior to senior levels, but differences among disciplines obscure this result.