Abstract

Completing an information search task involves various cognitive activities, from recognizing the need for information to selecting and evaluating it. This study aims to explore and comprehensively analyze the difficulties university students encounter while performing information searches for academic tasks to determine whether these difficulties are related to cognitive barriers. In this context, ‘university students’ information search’ refers to searches conducted for assignments or research tasks rather than everyday information needs. A cognitive barrier is defined as an obstacle in the human cognitive process that prevents or delays access to information. Through literature review, in-depth interviews, data collection including scripts and videos, and qualitative content analysis, we explored the types and influencing factors of major cognitive barriers experienced by university students. The main cognitive barriers identified were lack of knowledge, insufficient search skills, insufficient awareness of information usability, and lack of subject knowledge. Dervin’s Sense-Making Approach was employed to analyze the factors that contribute to these cognitive barriers and present our findings. The study highlights the necessity of supporting university students in understanding the interconnectedness and usefulness of library digital resources and internet materials. Furthermore, it also suggests the need to develop information literacy strategies that recognise the gaps in information search skills and include them in the pre-university curriculum.