The Effectiveness of Online Versus In-person Library Instruction on Finding Empirical Communication Research Kami J. Silk a, ⁎, Evan K. Perrault b , Sharon Ladenson c , Samantha A. Nazione d a Michigan State University, Communication & AgBioResearch, 477 CAS Building, MSU, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA b University of Wisconsin—Eau Claire, Department of Communication and Journalism, 105 Garfield Avenue, Eau Claire, WI 54702, USA c Michigan State University Libraries, USA d Berry College, Mount Berry, GA, USA abstract article info Article history: Received 30 September 2014 Accepted 17 December 2014 Available online 14 January 2015 Keywords: Online education Library research In-person learning Undergraduate education With online education becoming more popular, the following study compares the effectiveness of online versus in-person library instruction with regards to teaching communication students how to seek empirical research to use in their class projects. Measures of knowledge gain and attitudes revealed significant differences across time showing success of the instruction, but non-significant differences between the modes of instruction. However, a behavioral measure found that almost 10% more students in the online condition were able to successfully find empirical articles to use in their projects than those in the in-person instructional condition. With empirical re- search living less at brick-and-mortar libraries and primarily in online repositories, teaching students how to find empirical research may be most successful when it is taught via online platforms. © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. INTRODUCTION Researchers spend considerable effort combing through and synthe- sizing prior research to craft their arguments for the research they undertake because writing a persuasive literature review requires selec- tive integration of the best available evidence about the topic of interest. The process of finding relevant research articles out of the possibly hun- dreds published on a topic, and the effort it takes to distill them down to their ultimate contributions to their arguments is complex, particularly for undergraduate students who often have yet to be taught the neces- sary skill set to do so. It is no longer necessary for students to spend hours in an actual library paging through printed indexes to find re- search studies; with the ever increasing amount of information avail- able online to students, they can find high-quality research with their computers from home. This ease of access comes with problems, like students believing that researching and “Googling” are one and the same activity (Chong, 2010), thereby finding and subsequently using resources in their assignments that are of questionable quality (Bruckman, 2005). Presenting alternative research strategies and sources is of paramount importance if students are to continue carrying-on the quest for knowledge in reliable and valid ways. Students must be instructed on how to identify high-quality resources so they have the necessary evidence base to craft a high quality argu- ment for their written assignments. How to best deliver this instruction is an empirical question that this research aims to address. The following manuscript details a quasi-experimental research study that was undertaken to help students increase their knowledge and skills related to identifying high quality resources. Due to the rapid rise in the popularity of online education in recent years (Allen & Seaman, 2013), and the increasing placement of academic research on online platforms (Yi, 2005) the purpose of this research was to deter- mine if whether learning these research skills via online modules, or through in-person instruction, would be more effective. ONLINE VS. IN-PERSON INSTRUCTION: A COMPARISON Online learning is an expanding sector of higher education and has become an increasingly important long-term strategy for post- secondary institutions. Approximately one in three college students will complete some of their coursework online (Allen & Seaman, 2013). While it appears that online instruction is here to stay, a major question still remains — is it as effective as face-to-face instruction? While 77% of educators surveyed believe it to be the same, or superior, to face-to-face instruction (Allen & Seaman, 2013), these are educator perceptions, not objective outcome measures. Research focused on on- line learning is still in its infancy and more rigorous studies on this sub- ject are warranted. Educators have been researching and refining “traditional” education- al delivery methods for hundreds of years. However, because widespread public use of the Internet has existed for less than 20 years, there is still much to be learned about the educational outcomes from this system of delivery. Research conducted comparing the positives and negatives of both online and in-person classroom instruction have found mixed The Journal of Academic Librarianship 41 (2015) 149–154 ⁎ Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 517 884 3550. E-mail addresses: silkk@msu.edu (K.J. Silk), evanperrault@gmail.com (E.K. Perrault). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.acalib.2014.12.007 0099-1333/© 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Contents lists available at ScienceDirect The Journal of Academic Librarianship