The two bar charts compare how reliably undergraduates and postgraduates at three British universities – Oxford, Cambridge and Leeds – view both print and non-print academic materials.
Overall, students in all three institutions considered print resources to be more reliable than non-print ones. Postgraduates consistently expressed higher trust in academic materials than undergraduates, particularly for printed sources.
Regarding print materials, postgraduates reported the highest levels of confidence across all universities. At Oxford and Cambridge, around 90% of postgraduates rated print sources as reliable, compared with roughly 80% of undergraduates. A similar pattern is seen at Leeds, where postgraduate trust reached almost 100%, making it the highest figure on the charts, while undergraduate trust stood at about 85%.
In contrast, non-print materials were viewed as less reliable. Postgraduates again rated these sources more favourably, but the gap between the two groups was smaller than in the print category. At Cambridge and Leeds, postgraduate trust in non-print materials was just above 60%, while undergraduate ratings were slightly below that at around 55%. Oxford recorded the lowest confidence among undergraduates for non-print sources, at approximately 50%, although postgraduates there still reported a marginally higher figure.
In summary, while both groups showed strong confidence in printed academic materials, non-print resources were regarded with greater caution, particularly by undergraduates.
