Students’ Use of Research Content in Teaching and Learning : a report for the Joint Information Systems Council (JISC) 2009. (PDF link). None of the findings will be unexpected to anyone who works with undergraduates, but it’s useful to have common knowledge crystallised into a report like this.

“Although Google, Google Books and Google Scholar are heavily used, the library catalogue is still the preferred first choice for most students .. A lot of students use Google but are bewildered by the amount of responses and will rarely look beyond the first couple of pages of search terms … An increasing number of students are using the limited preview facility in Google Books to either read books not in their library or to save themselves the trouble of actually going to the library”