Overconfident and Overwhelmed: Examining Research Anxiety in Millenial First-Year Undergraduates

Type of Presentation

Individual paper/presentation (20 minute presentation)

Target Audience

Higher Education

Presenter Information

Amy L. Ellison, University of West Georgia

Location

Scarbrough 2

Proposal

See presentation description.

Presentation Description

While the multiple landmark studies of Kuhlthau (1988, 1990) found that college students lacked confidence at the beginning stages of the Information Search Process model, this presentation examines findings that illustrate a generational shift toward overconfidence. Due to the lack of anxiety in the first phases, the Millennial cohort actually experiences compounded levels of anxiety at this much later phase and their plummeting confidence convinces them that recovery is impossible. What traditionally built an intellectual scaffolding actually demoralizes, resulting in lowered achievement and, as we increasingly encounter at the university level, project abandonment. This research presentation aims to provide librarians and instructors with an understanding of the Millennial shift into overconfidence and increased anxiety so that we might better meet the needs of this rising generation.

Keywords

Kuhlthau, Student confidence, Research process, Student overconfidence, Millenial students, Student anxiety, Project abandonment

Publication Type and Release Option

Presentation (Open Access)

Recommended Citation

Ellison, Amy L., "Overconfident and Overwhelmed: Examining Research Anxiety in Millenial First-Year Undergraduates" (2013). Georgia International Conference on Information Literacy. 54.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/gaintlit/2013/2013/54