SEEKING AND READING PATTERNS OF SCHOLARLY ARTICLES: A STUDY WITH BRAZILIAN GRADUATE STUDENTS IN EDUCATION

This article presents part of a larger study on the use of reference sources to perform bibliographical search by graduate students in Education. Data relating to the use of the scientific journals by these students are presented and discussed. Sixty Education graduate students, 28 Master degree and 32 Doctoral, answered an electronic questionnaire. The students indicated the types of articles usually read and the importance attributed to each one. For each of treated themes in the electronic questionnaire, data are initially presented and analyzed in the set of the 60 participants of the study and then compared between master and doctoral students. Were used the Chi-squared (χ2) test, the Fisher exact test and the Spearman’s correlation coefficient. Research reports were more frequently pointed out but less valued in comparison to articles referring to critical review and theoretical essay. Methodological articles, appearing in fourth position according to reading frequency and importance attributed, are more valued by doctoral than master students. The students read these articles using different procedures. The possible reasons for the students valorizing the articles of critical review and theoretical essays are discussed. The present study intends to offer a contribution to understand the use of scientific information by students, describing some graduate students’ habits related to information seeking in scientific journals, and reading of the articles published.