Google Scholar is a search engine that specializes in finding scholarly literature on the World Wide Web. Through the user-friendly interface you can search the web for peer-reviewed papers and articles, theses, books, abstracts, citations and other scholarly literature from many different areas of research.
The big advantage of using Google Scholar compared to ordinary Google is that much irrelevant information is filtered away. For example, if you search Google Scholar for the word “fuzzy” you’ll get articles about the topic “fuzzy logic” on the first page. On the other hand, if you search Google using the same word you’ll get pages featuring the comic “Get Fuzzy” starring the cat Bucky and the dog Satchel. As you can see from this example, searching Google Scholar can be well worth a try if you are looking for scholarly literature.
Advanced search
If you choose “Advanced Scholar Search” you’ll be able to search more specific by making certain selections and adjustments. You can, for example, narrow down your search by choosing to only display hits which include material published in a certain journal, articles written by a specific author or literature from a certain year. You can also restrict your search to a specific subject area, for example “Social Sciences, Arts, and Humanities”.
If you know the title of the article you are looking for, you can enter it in the search box called “Find articles with the exact phrase”. This means Google Scholar will search for documents containing precisely the words (and in that order) that you type in.
Be sure to remember that if you don’t know exactly what you are looking for it is always best to start searching wide. Use one or two search terms initially to get a wide range of results. As you progress in your search you can begin searching more specifically by adding more search terms or other limitations to your search.
Interpret the search result
When you search Google Scholar you’ll get a list of hits, just like in Google. However, the hit list in Google Scholar includes a number of different links which can be useful to become familiar with. This picture shows the first hit in the following search: ”a new look at fuzzy connectives”.
1. Title
This links to the abstract of the article in question, or if the article is available on the Web, the full version of it.
2. Group of
Through this link you’ll get a list of other articles in the same group of documents, possibly preliminary versions, which may be accessible. Examples include preprints, abstracts or conference papers.
3. Information about the document (green text)
Here you can usually find the name of the author, which publication the document was published in and which year it’s from.
4. Cited by
This link shows a list of other documents that have cited articles in the group.
5. Related articles
Here you’ll find a list of other documents that are similar to the articles in this group.
6. Web search
Performs a search on the Web with the information from this hit. This means a search will be conducted on Google with the authors name combined with the title of the article.
7. Import to EndNote (requires certain configuration)
If you are using a reference management system, for example EndNote, you’ll be able to import your search results directly from Google Scholar. Click the link “Scholar Preferences” on the Google Scholar start page and scroll down to the section called “Bibliography Manager”. Click the button next to “Show links to import citations into” and choose your reference management system in the menu.
Don’t forget to save your preferences when you are done! The next time you search Google Scholar you’ll see a link below each hit which will allow you to import the search result to your chosen reference management system. If you chose EndNote the link will be named “Import to EndNote” as in the example above. Note that as a student at BTH you have free access to a version of EndNote called EndNoteWeb.
8. SFX@Blekinge
If you click the SFX-link you’ll get information about how you can access the document through the BTH university library. As a student you’ll often have access to the full text-version of the document if the SFX-link is located right next to the document title. On the other hand, if the SFX-link is located in the lower row of links, the document is usually not available in full text. In these cases you can use the SFX-link instead to order the document from the library. Note that there are exceptions to this rule, so be certain to try the SFX-link if you find a document you want to access.
How is the search result ranked in Google Scholar?
The hits are ranked after relevance, which means the most useful hit should appear at the top of the list. Google Scholar bases the ranking of the documents on how often they have been cited by others, which publication it has been published in, the contents of the text and on who the author is.
How do I access the documents?
Students and staff at BTH that log on using this Web address will have access to the full text resources of the university library through Google Scholar: http://miman.bib.bth.se/login?url=http://scholar.google.se/
Always use the link SFX@Blekinge if it is available in the hit list, as you’ll then automatically be linked to the full text version of the document. Note that not all documents are available in full text despite the fact that there is a SFX-link present. In these cases you have the option of requesting a copy of the document by filling out the form you reach through the link “Request document via your library”.
Tips
- When searching for information you should always endeavor to use several different information sources in order to get an encompassing search result. It isn’t unusual for a certain article to be available in full text in one database, while it is only available as an abstract in another. Therefore, Google Scholar is suitable to use as a complement to other information sources, like more subject-specific databases or library catalogues.
- Google Scholar is very useful for finding complete references to articles. For example, if you have the title of an article but don’t know which journal it was published in or which year it’s from you can, with the help of Google Scholar, often find the information you need.
- Using a reference management system like EndNote can make things a lot easier when writing a paper or thesis. Google Scholar includes a function which helps you import your search results to your computer in a simple way. A description on how to activate this function is given earlier in this text.
- There are more search engines than Google Scholar that specializes in finding scientific material on the Web. Try searching several to see how the search result differs between them. Read more about this in the section about Scientific resources.
Links
