Motivating Factors Related to Information Literacy

Students were asked to rate the influence of nine motivating factors on their choice to use information literacy skills. They rated the skills on a four-point Likert-style scale. The order in which students identified motivating factors for use of information literacy skills was (from most to least popular):

1. I believe in researching the reality behind what I see and hear.
2. I believe in searching for reliable information sources to learn about important.
3. I believe that strong IL skills will help me in my future career.
4. I believe that strong IL skills will help me to succeed in a future degree program (for example, a master’s degree, law degree, medical degree, or Ph.D.).
5. My instructors require IL as part of assignments and/or give points specifically for information literacy (such as finding articles in journals or going to the library).
6. I have learned to appreciate IL through experiences that I have had outside of school (for example, in my social life, while writing or pursuing other creative hobbies, or while reading/watching media related to personal interests).
7. It is easy and/or natural for me to use IL skills now.
8. My classmates’ performance in class or study sessions inspires me to use my IL skills.
9. Other students (classmates, friends, peer tutors, etc.) have recommended that I use IL skills on my assignments.

Motivating Factors Related to Information Literacy
Motivating Factor	Mean Score	Standard Deviation of Scores
I believe in researching the reality behind what I read and hear.	3.79	0.08
I believe in searching for reliable information sources to learn about important topics.	3.79	0.41
I believe that strong information literacy skills will help me in my future career.	3.67	0.64
I believe that strong information literacy skills will help me to succeed in a future degree program (for example, a master’s degree, law degree, medical degree, or Ph.D.).	3.63	0.56
My professors require information literacy as part of assignments and/or give points specifically for information literacy (such as finding articles in journals or going to the library).	3.46	0.51
I have learned to appreciate I have learned to appreciate information literacy through experiences that I have outside of school (for example, in my social life, while writing or pursuing other creative hobbies, or while reading/watching media related to personal interests).	3.42	0.65
It is easy and/or natural for me to use information literacy skills now.	3.33	0.76
My classmates’ performance in class or study sessions inspires me to use my information literacy skills.	2.79	0.72
Other students (classmates, friends, peer tutors, etc.) have recommended that I use information literacy skills on my assignments.	2.29	0.86
Note. Scores were presented to students as follows: (a) “very true for me” = 4 points, (b) “somewhat true for me” = 3 points, (c) “somewhat untrue for me” = 2 points, and (d) “Not at all true for me” = 1 point. Note. Mean scores and standard deviations have been rounded to two decimal points in order to make small differences in scores apparent.