3.3.1 Search engines dependency proves

The sources used for this part are coming from Canadian, (cf. Crepuq. (2003). Etude sur les connaissances en recherche documentaire des étudiants entrant au 1er cycle dans les universités québécoises.) French (cf. Université de Lyon. (2007). De la documentation au plagiat.) and Belgium students panels. (cf. EduDoc. (2008). Enquête sur les compétences documentaires et informationnelles des étudiants qui accèdent à l'enseignement supérieur en Communauté française de Belgique.) Some other information regarding Germany, China (Hong Kong) (cf. Leung, H. W. 梁漢榮. (2004). A study of computer science students' conceptions of information literacy and their experiences in information search process and use.) and the United States (cf. Enquiro. (2004). Search Engine Usage in North America.) have also been used.

Those studies have been made on different panels: students, workers (researchers), household and the following conclusion have been made: search engine is the first tool when looking for information on the Internet.

It also states regarding surveys made on students that most of them did not receive enough training on how to look for information.

The best study found on this topic is one made on all the registered PhD students (2,218 with an answer rate of 23,4%) last year (2008) on a whole region of France. (cf. URFIST de Rennes. (2008). Enquête sur les besoins de formation des doctorants à la maîtrise de l’information scientifique dans les Ecoles doctorales de Bretagne.)

The study shows that 67,5% of the respondents have never received a training regarding how to look for information during their whole stay at the university and that search engines are used in 96% of the cases when performing research.

Internet users are dependent of search engines.