Source: Giphy
So the results are in, and overall: there were thirty-two responses across the class years, there were a lot of first years who responded, and I have a lot of basic math to do. But so far I don’t have any clear answers (or winners for that matter) on any accurate measures of undergraduate archival knowledge. However, there appear to be some trends among my data that may support the perspective that I addressed in my archival research paper.
One such trend, would be the large number of first years whose CTW (critical thinking and writing – a first year writing-related class at my uni) coursework has lead them to delve into the archives. Meanwhile, another would be the fact that it seems that many students are under the impression that undergrads cannot use the archives. All in all, it’s looking like my survey reflects the patterns that I’ve already observed during our interactions with the archives, so that’s good! That means I might just be able to use this data (though its skewed/biased) for our argumentative essay that’s coming up.
But for now I’ll organize my findings into why they are significant, linking them to the points I’ve made about undergrads and the archives – mainly that undergrads lack adequate education/resources regarding the archives – and also the points I’ve made about universities and research skills – that universities began to push undergrad students into more complex research skills, archival included, as these institutions evolve over time. After that, I’ll probably use my data to demonstrate what exactly undergrads are lacking in the knowledge department – which can then be used as an example for where universities can began this ‘research education’.
