Google Scholar is an Internet search tool which will "broadly search for scholarly literature. From one place, you can search across many disciplines and sources: articles, theses, books, abstracts and court opinions, from academic publishers, professional societies, online repositories, universities and other web sites."
Google. (2016). About Google Scholar. Retrieved June 5, 2016 from https://scholar.google.ca/intl/en/scholar/about.html.
This brief introduction provides an overview of Google Scholar. Next, we provide a more in-depth video, and the remainder of the lesson walks you through Google Scholar's features with a sample research question.
MountLibrary (2016, Jun 5). Overview of Google Scholar [Video file]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/IirDQXHRnk4
MountLibrary (2016, Jun 5). Accessing Google Scholar at the Mount Library [Video file]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/EfibahxE2zg
Lots of materials that require a library subscription will appear in Google Scholar search results. Never pay for articles! Most of them will be available from the Mount Library or via Document Delivery - at no charge. By activating Check Full Text @ MSVU, you will be able to link to Mount library databases from Google Scholar - using this approach will make your research life easier.
You can view the instructions at the Mount Library website's Help with Library Research Guide: Connecting to Mount Library full text journal articles from Google Scholar
Or view this video:
MountLibrary (2016, Jun 6). Connecting Google Scholar to the Mount Library [Video file]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/42aynrdenGQ
A natural language search uses regular language, such as English, just as it is spoken or written. Another way to think of it is to search using complete sentences. E.g., What is the price of oil?
A phrase search is done to locate words in sequence (an exact phrase). E.g. “Truth and Reconciliation Commission”
Google Scholar can do both natural language and phrase searching. Think about how this impacts your search results.
MountLibrary (2016, Jun 8). Natural language and phase searching with Google Scholar [Video file]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/Qs7Z-FqZOic
Advanced Searching in Google Scholar enables you to use the Boolean operators AND, OR and NOT.
Select the pull-down menu to open the Advanced Search tool in Google Scholar.
A box appears. With this box you can construct a search:
With all the words = AND E.g. homework AND impact
With the exact phrase = quotes: "Google Scholar searches for the words in the order written" E.g., elementary school children
With at least one of the words = OR
Without the words = NOT
Where my words occur anywhere in the article = Google Scholar will search for your words or phrases wherever they appear
Where my words occur in the title of the article = Google Scholar will ONLY search the words and phrases in the titles of the articles and this will greatly reduce your results (remember that the words in the title are not always indicative of the content of the article...)
Notice that you can also limit the search by author, publication (abbreviated title) and/or publication date.
Watch this search in a video:
MountLibrary (2016, Jun 8). Advanced Google Scholar searching 1 [Video file]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/jekShFkn2_o
Select the pull-down arrow to choose the Advanced Search option in Google Scholar.
You can use this Advanced Search to include additional concepts to refine your research question.
E.g., I want articles containing the words impact AND homework. I know I am interested in "elementary school children" To narrow this research question, I could ask: How does homework impact elementary school children's achievement? Another word for achievement is success. Achievement OR success. I do not want articles that discuss parents (I am interested in students and teachers, not the influence of parents.) so I ask Google Scholar to return results without the word parents.
Find articles
with all of the words homework impact
with the exact phrase elementary school children
with at least one of the words achievement success
without the words parents
where my words occur anywhere in the article
This search returns about 1,180 results. The words homework AND impact appear, as does the phrase "elementary school children." Either the word achievement OR success appears. The word parents does NOT appear. After examining a few articles I could narrow this further using fewer, more precise, search terms and phrases.
Watch this search in a video:
MountLibrary (2016, Jun 8). Advanced Google Scholar searching 2 [Video file]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/yZewRfg_wBM
Google Scholar enables you to focus on articles published recently, since a certain year, or within a range of years.
By default, Google Scholar sorts results by relevance (an algorithm that computes a combination of text matching, the number of times an item has been cited, and its source).
If you need very recent materials, use the "Sort by date" link to view only the very newest items added to Scholar, typically those added within the last year.
Or, use the date limits on the left-hand menu to find results Since 2012 (or 2015 or 2016)
Or, select custom range and use the text boxes to enter a date range:
E.g., If I were interested only in the 10 years between 1998 and 2008:
This date limiting can be important depending on the nature of the research (or the requirements of an assignment!)
This video demonstrates sorting and limiting Google Scholar results by date.
MountLibrary (2016, Jun 11). Sorting and limiting by date in Google Scholar [Video file]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/u_T68Vs5DyM
This is optional. You do NOT need to create a Google account and use this feature to complete the course. Only do so if you wish to.
Underneath each search result is a "Save" link. Select this Save link and follow the prompts to login to your Google account.
Your result will be saved to My library which is available to you whenever you login to Google Scholar.
From the home screen of Google Scholar, I can use My Library whenever I am logged into Google.
This video shows saving a search result into Google Scholar's My Library by logging in. You do NOT need to create a Google account to search Google Scholar or to complete this course. Do so only if you wish to.
MountLibrary (2016, Jun 11). Google Scholar's My Library [Video file]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/uxe7E3zd08o
Sometimes you see an article in a list of references and you are interested in finding it. Google Scholar is very good at finding a match (and even versions of the same article).
Here is the article to find:
This video demonstrates using Google Scholar to locate the following article:
Rønning, M. (2011). Who benefits from homework assignments?. Economics of Education Review, 30(1), 55-64.
MountLibrary (2016, Jun 11). Finding a specific article with Google Scholar [Video file]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/C3mLnes9ecg
When you have a result in Google Scholar, you can choose Related articles to find research similar to this that has been loaded into Google Scholar. This can be a useful way to connect to similar articles written about a topic (which may or may not be available via the suite of Library databases) when doing academic research.
Selecting the Related articles link opens the list of articles that are similar to this one.
This video demonstrates how to use Google Scholar's "Related articles" link to find similar research on a particular topic.
MountLibrary (2016, Jun 11). Related articles in Google Scholar [Video file]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/eWt48YHl7kw
When you find an article that is relevant to your research topic, you can find other authors who have cited (referred to) this article. This can be (but is not always) a measure of the scholarly impact of an article.
Remember that this is authors found in Google Scholar that have cited your article; other articles citing your article may be found in other places such as the Library databases/Novanet Discovery and more.
When you have found a relevant article, beneath its result will appear a link entitled "Cited by." In the example below 872 other articles/authors which appear in Google Scholar have cited this article by Wigfield.
Selecting the Cited by link shows the other articles/authors appearing in Google Scholar which have cited this one.
The original article appears at the top and the citing articles appear in the list. If I have activated Library Links in Google, this can be an easy way to obtain those articles which have cited this one via the Mount Library databases. There may be other places which have the materials online, as well.
This video demonstrates using the Cited by link to find other articles which have cited (referred to) an article of interest. This can be (but is not always) a measure of the scholarly impact of an article.
MountLibrary (2016, Jun 11). Cited by in Google Scholar [Video file]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/zNuzir2AdYg
Citation chasing is a term used for finding recent articles on a topic when you have one known item of an older date.
