Accessibility and Evaluation of Information Sources Skills for Academic Activities by Postgraduate Students in Federal Universities North East Nigeria

The study investigated accessibility and evaluation of information sources skills for academic activities by postgraduate students in Federal Universities, North East Nigeria. The study was guided by two objectives, two research questions and two mull hypotheses. This study adopted a quantitative approach using a descriptive correlational survey and the population of the study comprised of seven thousand eight hundred and sixty four (7,864) postgraduate students registered in 2024/2025 session in three (3) selected federal universities in North East, Nigeria. The universities were: Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU), Bauchi, Bauchi State, Modibbo Adama University (MAU), Yola, Adamawa State and University of Maiduguri (UNIMAID), Borno State. Two standadised questionnaire with 5-point Likert’s scale were adapted and used as the research instrument. Descriptive statistics of mean and standard deviation were used to analyse data generated from the eight (2) research questions raised, while, regression analysis was used to test the two null-hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The study revealed that the postgraduate students in North East Nigeria possessed high level of skills in accessing information sources for academic activities. Also, the study indicated that postgraduate students in North East Nigeria possessed moderate level of skills evaluating information sources for academic activities. Furthermore, the hypothesis tested showed that there is significant relationship between accessibility of information sources skills and academic activities of Postgraduate Students in Federal Universities, North East Nigeria. Moreover, the study reported that there is significant relationship between evaluation of information sources skills and academic activities of Postgraduate Students in Federal Universities, North East Nigeria. The study recommended sustaining high competence in accessing information sources as well as strengthening information evaluation skills.