Assessing information literacy skills of undergraduate freshmen: A case study from Hong Kong

University students use information from the Internet for solving their own problems or assignments. However, there has been a little discussion on the use of internet-based information literacy skills of freshmen in Hong Kong. The present study assessed the internet-based information literacy skills of undergraduate freshmen from author’s university. This study included four information literacy areas: (1) identify information needs and internet sources; (2) locate information from the internet; (3) evaluate information from the Internet; (4) synthesize information. These areas are important learning skills for survival in the information age. This study measured the perception of information literacy skills by self-rated survey and actual information literacy skills by using multiple-choice knowledge test and task-based information problem from sixty-one undergraduate freshmen. The findings indicate that the participants have difficulties in all information literacy areas. These results signify that further support on information literacy skills should be provided.