RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN BACHELOR OF EDUCATION TEACHER TRAINEES? CITATION AND REFERENCING AABILITY AND UTILIZATION OF E-RESOURCES

Utilization of electronic resources is a reading culture that benefits bachelor of education teacher trainees (BEDTTs) by directly exposing the learners to up-to-date and vast subject content in motivating multimedia presentations. The BEDTTs benefits from utilizing e-resources anywhere, anytime with electronic devices. Furthermore, the BEDTTs benefit from utilizing referencing software like Zotero, Mendeley, EndNotes and RefWorks that organize and manage documents consulted in course of completing academic work. The BEDTTs use the time saved to do more academic work. The study examined the relationship between BEDTTs? citation and referencing ability and utilization of e-resources. The objective of the study was to establish the relationship between BEDTTs? citation and referencing ability and utilization of e-resources. The study adopted descriptive research design. Stratified random sampling was used to draw a sample of 370 BEDTTs. Purposeful sampling method was used to obtain 30 staff who interact with BEDTTs either in class, library or administratively. Validity was ascertained using experts from the department of educational communication. The instrument demonstrated high internal consistency (>.90) using test-retest method. Validity was ascertained using Cronbachs? alpha coefficient. Data was collected using questionnaires, interview guides and document analysis guide. Data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistical techniques. The findings revealed that there was no relationship between BEDTTs? referencing ability and utilization of e-resources. The findings recommend BEDTTs to be taught a wide range of citation and referencing styles to empower them with referencing ability. A policy on joint curriculum mapping and team-teaching information literacy (IL) among lecturers, library staff and information skills librarians (ISLs) should be implemented. The study recommend replication of a longitudinal study on relationship between citation and referencing ability and utilization of e-resources.