AUTOMATED SYSTEMS WERE USED IN THIS STUDY WITH STUDENTS ENROLLED IN A LARGE UNDERGRADUATE SOCIOLOGY CLASS. THE EXPERIMENT WAS DIVIDED INTO THREE PHASES--DOCUMENTATION, EXPERIMENTATION, AND MEASUREMENT OF CRITERIA AND ANALYSES. PHASE 1 DEALT WITH THE PROBLEMS OF ABSTRACTING AND ENCODING SOCIAL SCIENCE LITERATURE AND ALSO THE DEVELOPMENT OF A SYSTEM FOR PROCESSING THE DOCUMENTS. PHASE 2 INCLUDED TESTING TO DETERMINE THE EFFECT OF INFORMATION RETRIEVAL ON 180 RANDOMLY SELECTED STUDENTS. THE SUBJECTS WERE ASSIGNED TO EITHER THE EXPERIMENTAL GROUP OR THE CONTROL GROUP. ALL SUBJECTS ATTENDED THE SAME ACTIVITIES AND RECEIVED THE SAME ASSIGNMENTS, BUT ONLY THE EXPERIMENTAL GROUP WAS PERMITTED TO USE THE AUTOMATED SYSTEM. PHASE 3 WAS DEVOTED TO CRITERIA MEASUREMENT AND ANALYSIS OF DATA. THE RESULTS INDICATED THAT NO SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCES EXISTED BETWEEN THE GROUPS, BUT A FAVORABLE ATTITUDE EXISTED FOR USE OF THE RETRIEVAL SYSTEM. THE PILOT STUDY WAS CONTINUED FOR ANOTHER YEAR AND REVISIONS WERE MADE. THESE METHODS AND REVISIONS ARE CURRENTLY BEING WRITTEN, AND WILL BECOME AVAILABLE IN THE FUTURE. (RS)