UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS USE OF INTERNET RESOURCES FOR RESEARCH PROJECT IN UNIVERSITIES IN NORTH – CENTRAL NIGERIA

This study was carried out to examine undergraduate students’ use of Internet resources for research project in Universities in North-Central Nigeria. The study was guided by six research questions. The researcher employed a survey research design. The population of the study comprised of six thousand one hundred and fifteen (6,115) final year undergraduate students in Benue State University, Makurdi; Kogi State University, Anyigba; University of Agriculture, Makurdi; Nassarawa State University, Keffi and University of Mkar, Mkar. A sample of 1,223 final year undergraduate students was used for the study using a systematic random sampling technique. Questionnaire titled “Undergraduate Students’ Use of Internet Resources for Research Project in Universities in North Central-Nigeria” was used as instrument for data collection. Mean and standard deviation were used to analyze the data collected, while t-test was used in testing the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The result of the study showed that the Internet resources in university libraries and information centresare available but not adequate and not highly used for research project. It was also found that the majority of the respondents students do not possess basic Internet skills for use of Internet resources. It was recommended that libraries should organize Internet user education programs, more educational databases should be subscribed to, the university administrations should inject more funds to university libraries and information centers for the provision of more Internet resources such as electronic journals, electronic books, and online data analysis software.This study was carried out to examine undergraduate students’ use of Internet resources for research project in Universities in North-Central Nigeria. The study was guided by six research questions. The researcher employed a survey research design. The population of the study comprised of six thousand one hundred and fifteen (6,115) final year undergraduate students in Benue State University, Makurdi; Kogi State University, Anyigba; University of Agriculture, Makurdi; Nassarawa State University, Keffi and University of Mkar, Mkar. A sample of 1,223 final year undergraduate students was used for the study using a systematic random sampling technique. Questionnaire titled “Undergraduate Students’ Use of Internet Resources for Research Project in Universities in North Central-Nigeria” was used as instrument for data collection. Mean and standard deviation were used to analyze the data collected, while t-test was used in testing the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The result of the study showed that the Internet resources in university libraries and information centresare available but not adequate and not highly used for research project. It was also found that the majority of the respondents students do not possess basic Internet skills for use of Internet resources. It was recommended that libraries should organize Internet user education programs, more educational databases should be subscribed to, the university administrations should inject more funds to university libraries and information centers for the provision of more Internet resources such as electronic journals, electronic books, and online data analysis software.