Customer center

We are a boutique essay service, not a mass production custom writing factory. Let us create a perfect paper for you today!

Example research essay topic: Word Processing Literacy Skills - 1,115 words

NOTE: Free essay sample provided on this page should be used for references or sample purposes only. The sample essay is available to anyone, so any direct quoting without mentioning the source will be considered plagiarism by schools, colleges and universities that use plagiarism detection software. To get a completely brand-new, plagiarism-free essay, please use our essay writing service.
One click instant price quote

What Computer Skills Do Employers Expect From Recent College Graduates? Philip Davis, Instructional Technology Librarian Rankings, Groupings, and Correlations 4 Why is this research important for librarians? 7 What Computer Skills Do Employers Expect From Recent College Graduates? Philip Davis, Instructional Technology Librarian The university is responsible for graduating students with the skills necessary to thrive and lead in a rapidly changing technological environment. Meanwhile corporate leaders are putting more emphasis on recruiting individuals with an understanding of computers and information systems.

A nationwide survey by the Often Corp of 1, 481 management systems executives found that computer literacy requirements for all job levels increased dramatically over a three-year period in the early nineties. However, another survey by HR Focus of 20 human resource executives found a lack of computer-literacy skills in recent college graduates. Cornell University's Albert R. Mann Library has a formal instruction program that reaches nearly 1, 000 participants in over 60 hands-on computer workshops per semester. Workshop topics cover bibliographic research techniques, Internet searching principles, database searching skills, word Processing, Spreadsheets, and information management. Classes are supplemented by several online tutorials.

Descriptions of these classes and tutorials are located at web The purpose of our research was to identify the computer skills employers felt were necessary when recruiting recent Cornell graduates. The results of this study were part of a larger evaluation of computing across the curriculum in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. This study was also used as a tool to evaluate our library's instruction program, and provided us with a comparison to a 1990 survey of employers, faculty advisors and graduates in the school of Agricultural Economics. Corporations who regularly visit the Cornell campus to recruit graduating students were our focus population. Our questionnaire was designed to gather information on five categories of computer literacy skill: 1) Creating Documents and Multimedia, 2) Working with Computer Programs, 3) Managing Databases, 4) Manipulating Numeric Data, 5) Computer Networks, a five-point scale was used to indicate competency levels. Of the 300 questionnaires mailed, 150 returned with usable responses.

Generally employers have a high expectation of computer literacy in recent college graduates (Figure 1). A total of 125 (83. 3 %) indicated that computer competency skills are either "important" or " very important" in the hiring decision. Within the Documents and Multimedia section, Word Processing (Figure 2) ranked the highest, with 144 (96 % 0 of employers expecting at least basic word processing skills. The majority of recruiters (97 or 67 %) responded "not relevant" or "none" to Desktop Publishing Skills (Figure 3), whereas the re was a clustering of 41 respondents (112 or 75 %) wanted at least "basic" Graphics or Presentation Software Skills (Figure 4). Lastly, the majority of employers did not consider Creating Internet Documents (Figure 5) very important, as 105 (70 %) considered this skill "not relevant, " or would be willing to train.

From the Working With Computer Programs section, employers showed a discrepancy in expecting the ability to install or upgrade software (Figure 6). Whereas, 61 (41 %) respondents were seeking basic skills, 46 (31 %) respondents indicated that this particular skill was "not relevant. " Ninety-four (64 %) employers were looking for at least basic skills to create or modify programs or macros for individual use (Figure 7). The majority of respondents (67 %) indicated that the ability to create commercial software (Figure 8) was not relevant to the job; however, for those who responded favorably, 21 (14 %) were expecting either intermediate or advanced skills. Skills from the Managing Databases section scored slightly lower, with basic database entry and editing skills (Figure 9) coming out highest in this group- 122 (83 %) respondents expected at least basic skills. Generally Numeric Data skills (and specifically spreadsheet skills) scored very highly as a group. Even the ability to perform detailed analysis (Figure 10) was expected by 86 % of respondents.

Lastly, employers responded very favorably to Computer Network skills (Figure 11). An overwhelming majority (93 %) expected e-mail experience, and 63. 3 % expected competency with online and Internet searching. The "Other" category comprised open responses that included network configurations and network software. Rankings, Groupings, and Correlations Figure 12 provides an overview of how all computer literacy skills are ranked with respect to one another. Scores were calculated for each skill weighing responses and correcting for missing data. The maximum score for any skill was 100, given to word processing.

Correlation analysis was performed on the data with the goal of presenting an overview of how computer competency skills are related to one another. The correlation matrix (Figure 13) easily identifies pockets of significant correlation (high correlation indicated by dark cells). Question numbers are indicated along the X and Y axes. Most skills were significantly and positively related to each other. Individual skills were highly correlated within each functional group (Figure 13). This was especially so within the Computer Programs (3), Managing Databases (4), and Numeric Data (5) categories, but less so within Creating Documents and Multimedia (2) category.

The "importance of computer skills" (question 1), was significantly correlated with most skills (Figure 13), with higher emphasis on Internet Documents (2 e), Installing software (3 a), Modifying programs or macros (3 b) and Writing documentation for computer programs (3 e). Word processing (2 a) was highly correlated with basic and intermediate spreadsheet competency (5 a, 5 b, 5 c). Graphics / presentation skills (2 c) was also highly correlated with spreadsheet skills (5 a- 5 e). Basic and intermediate computer programming skills (3 a, 3 b, 3 c) were highly correlated with most database management skills (4 a- 4 e), numerical analysis (5 e) and mathematical modeling (5 f). Lastly, database management skills (4 a- 4 e) were highly correlated with advanced numeric data skills (5 e, 5 f, 5 g), which include statistical analysis, mathematical modeling and geographic information systems (GIS). Many employers used the Other Computer Skills open-ended question to list specific languages, programs or skills (Table 1).

Those listing programming skills overwhelmingly mentioned C or C++ as a language. Respondents listing specific operating systems made high reference to UNIX and DOS/Windows platforms. Excluding word-processing and spreadsheet skills (which were analyzed in more detail in other parts of the questionnaire), Computer Aided Design (CAD) skills were listed most frequently. The last open question solicited comments. Of the 43 responses, most comments included recruiting preferences and anecdotes. Several of the respondents remarked that the questionnaire was difficult to fill out since they recruit for different positions in various departments: "Computer skill expectations vary depending on the department one joins. " One recruiter even concluded that "computer-skill requirement varies by engineering discipline. " Many emp...


Free research essays on topics related to: literacy skills, word processing, basic skills, college graduates, computer literacy

Research essay sample on Word Processing Literacy Skills

Writing service prices per page

  • $18.85 - in 14 days
  • $19.95 - in 3 days
  • $23.95 - within 48 hours
  • $26.95 - within 24 hours
  • $29.95 - within 12 hours
  • $34.95 - within 6 hours
  • $39.95 - within 3 hours
  • Calculate total price

Our guarantee

  • 100% money back guarantee
  • plagiarism-free authentic works
  • completely confidential service
  • timely revisions until completely satisfied
  • 24/7 customer support
  • payments protected by PayPal

Secure payment

With EssayChief you get

  • Strict plagiarism detection regulations
  • 300+ words per page
  • Times New Roman font 12 pts, double-spaced
  • FREE abstract, outline, bibliography
  • Money back guarantee for missed deadline
  • Round-the-clock customer support
  • Complete anonymity of all our clients
  • Custom essays
  • Writing service

EssayChief can handle your

  • essays, term papers
  • book and movie reports
  • Power Point presentations
  • annotated bibliographies
  • theses, dissertations
  • exam preparations
  • editing and proofreading of your texts
  • academic ghostwriting of any kind

Free essay samples

Browse essays by topic:

Stay with EssayChief! We offer 10% discount to all our return customers. Once you place your order you will receive an email with the password. You can use this password for unlimited period and you can share it with your friends!

Academic ghostwriting

About us

© 2002-2024 EssayChief.com