PurposeThis paper aims to give a critical review of the empirical information seeking and retrieval (IS&R) literature focusing on learning related information behavior. It also aims to propose the task‐based approach to link research on learning and information behavior in learning tasks and to organize and interpret the literature.Design/methodology/approachThis paper takes the form of a critical literature review.FindingsResearchers have identified patterns of information behavior and variations in the conceptions of seeking and using information for learning tasks. The results are fragmented and a framework should be developed to guide further research. Learners' information behavior in learning tasks may be attributable to various explanatory factors, which have not been taken into account in any single study. The concept of focus formulation appears to link information seeking and learning. The role of the writing process in learners' information behavior and the characteristics of the resulting documents have received least attention in the research field.Research limitations/implicationsThe review emphasizes task‐based IS&R literature. Learning research may shed more light on specific questions.Practical implicationsThe paper may help teachers in designing learning tasks.Originality/valueThe paper provides a synthesis of recent studies on information behavior in learning tasks and identifies new paths for further research.

Source-based writing assignments conducted by groups of students are a common learning task used in information literacy instruction. The fundamental assumption in group assignments is that students' collaboration substantially enhances their learning. The present study focused on the group work strategies adopted by upper secondary school students in source-based writing assignments. Seventeen groups authored Wikipedia or Wikipedia-style articles and were interviewed during and after the assignment. The interviews were analyzed to identify the key activities which the students undertook, the ways the group work was conducted in these activities and how the students justified their choice of group work strategies.Group work strategies were analyzed in six activities: planning, searching, assessing sources, reading, writing and editing. The students used two cooperative strategies: delegation and division of work, and two collaborative strategies: pair and group collaboration. Division of work into independently conducted parts was the most popular group work strategy. Also group collaboration, where students worked together to complete an activity, was commonly applied. Division of work was justified by efficiency in completing the project and by ease of control in the fair division of contributions. The motivation behind collaboration was related to quality issues and shared responsibility. The authors suggest that the present designs of learning tasks lead students to avoid collaboration increasing the risk of low learning outcomes in information literacy instruction.

No abstract