This work proposes a structural model highlighting the research skills of undergraduate students. Due to the stages in their research project implementation, mentoring students becomes a crucial initiative in higher education institutions. Despite substantial progress in the literature linking mentoring and skills development, there is a lack of greater emphasis on research skills, especially for undergraduate students facing research work for the first time. Consequently, the direct relation between mentoring and research skills may not be straightforward. Thus, driven by social learning theory, the proposed model highlights the mediating effects of information literacy constructs and competency development on the relationship between mentoring and research skills. An empirical study of 539 participants via Partial Least Squares–Structural Equation Modeling supports six of the seven hypothesized paths. Three major theoretical contributions arise from the findings. Firstly, mentoring improves information-seeking skills and information-sharing behaviors and facilitates students’ competency development due to the technical knowledge transfer from the faculty mentor to student mentees. Secondly, information literacy constructs and competency development promote research skills, emphasizing that students with those behaviors and capacities will achieve enhanced research skills. Finally, our findings suggest that mentoring does not directly translate to improved research skills; instead, information-seeking and sharing behaviors and competency development fully mediate such a link. Thus, mentors must shape these behaviors for mentoring to develop students’ research skills. Theoretical and practical insights are outlined from these findings for university leadership to inform the design of mentoring initiatives for undergraduate students.

The study investigates the strategies employed by the students of Cebu Technological University in searching information using digitized resources. It identifies students' information needs using the main campus’ library and describes the information seeking approaches students employ using the Internet, Online databases and Optical media. The study employs simple purposive sampling. It uses descriptive method of survey and document analysis. A focus group discussion was also conducted and computer log monitoring analysis. The study revealed that students’ information needs are varied and course related. Students’ purposes in searching information in digitize sources are to get an overview of their research topic; answering class assignments and gathering related literature. Students supply their own keywords rather than the keywords provided in the index of online databases was generally the first approach used in searching information in digitized sources. Boolean operators and truncations as search techniques were the least used approach. Search engines of Google, Yahoo, and You Tube were the top three preferences of students when using the Internet as a Digitized Information Source. Dealing with too many results to choose from and inadequate instructions on how to proceed with the search usually contribute to the delay in finding the needed information.   Keywords - digitized resources, information seeking strategies