Full-Text Database Dependency: An Emerging Trend Among Undergraduate Library Users?

The ever-growing number of full-text electronic databases and their increasing availability has helped to create greater expectations among the undergraduate students who use them in their research. A study was made of nearly three hundred students enrolled in composition classes to determine the indexes and databases most commonly used for assignments and whether having the full text of journal articles online played a role in shaping the nature of their research. The survey results confirmed the authors' belief from encounters at the reference desk that students are becoming dependent on the availability of full-text databases and are using them in some cases to the exclusion of all other information sources.