The Use of Information Retrieval Tools: a Study of Computer Science Postgraduate Students Nor Liyana Mohd Shuib; Noorhidawati Abdullah Faculty of Computer Science & Information Technology Universiti Malaya 50603, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia liyanashuib@gmail.com Mohammad Hafiz bin Ismail Faculty of Computer and Mathematical Sciences Universiti Teknologi MARA 02600, Arau, Malaysia mypapit@gmail.com Abstract—Students may seek information for various reasons such as to understand a specific subject matter or to conduct a research. In this digital age, they may not have a problem to find information. However, they are having problem to find scholarly information that suits their learning needs. This is because they are having difficulties to find the scholarly information that suitable for their learning styles. The objectives of this research are (a) to investigate information retrieval tools that students use to find scholarly information; (b) to compare the tools in terms of access, search techniques, and search facilities and (c) to propose architecture of information retrieval tool for learning needs. Therefore, this research investigates several information retrieval tools such as Online Public Access Catalogues (OPAC), Internet search engine, online databases and digital libraries. Survey questionnaire was conducted on 129 postgraduate’s students of Faculty of Science Computer and Information Technology, University of Malaya. They were chosen because of their level of education and their proficiency in using IT infrastructure. The quantitative data were analyzed using statistical program SPSS. The result shows that postgraduate students having difficulties in finding information that suitable to their learning style using available information retrieval tools. Keywords-component; information retrieval; postgraduate;search tools; scholarly information; learning styles I. INTRODUCTION It is undeniable that information is pivotal in our lives. We need information to do a lot of activities such as to resolve a problem, to make a decision, to reduce the uncertainty, to resolve conflict, to answer questions and to satisfy curiosity. Students need scholarly information in order to fulfill their course. Scholarly information is intellectual information that written by experts in particular field and it have a few elements such as the use of technical writing, references and peer-reviewed. For example, students will need to seek scholarly information for their dissertation research. This eventually led students to depend on information retrieval (IR) tools to satisfy their needs. According to Lancaster [1], IR tool also known as search system, is a system that informs the user about the existence or non-existence of the document relating to user request. IR tool can be in any form of printed or electronic catalogue, index, bibliographic records or application that facilitates information retrieval. As there are various IR tools available such as online public access catalogues (OPAC), Internet search engine, subject directory, online database and digital library, it is important to investigate the available IR tools that are commonly used by students in university settings. With the volume of information available today, it is difficult to find accurate information that suits students’ learning need. When a student seeks for information on a particular subject, he looks at all possible information sources such as books, articles or journals and ends up with mountains of information. The problem is to find the right information for his needs. The material retrieved is often not suitable to student’s learning style. Thus, this paper focuses on the study of electronic IR tools usage among postgraduate students and their preference for specific IR tools. Then we propose IR architecture for learning needs. The paper structure has six parts. First, this paper discusses the literature of information retrieval, its tool and students’ learning need. This is followed by comparative analysis of IR tools. Next, the data collection process is discussed. Then, the results and the discussion of the data analysis are presented and summarized. After that, architecture of IR tool for learning needs is discussed. Finally, the paper concludes with research contribution and future research. II. LITERATURE REVIEW A. Information Retrieval The use of IR in electronic form can be traced back since 1960s in which the management of full text and multimedia document has been electronically catalogued in a range of models and systems [2]. IR was designed to facilitate user retrieving relevant information that related to their desired needs effectively and efficiently. Lancaster [1] has stated that IR system function is to inform the user about the existence or non- existence of document related to user request. IR is just not a system that stores and retrieves information [3], but rather consists of a set of components which are interrelated together to facilitate searching process. This 2010 International Conference on Science and Social Research (CSSR 2010), December 5 - 7, 2010, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 978-1-4244-8986-2/10/$26.00 ©2010 IEEE 379