Google Scholar
Google Scholar offers several features of interest to scholars. You will want to use Google Scholar, in combination with library databases, to cast the widest net to find sources. For example, library databases often do not include conference proceedings articles. Google Scholar will often find conference articles.
Search and Results
- Quotes - search by phrase using ("") with either a topic or article title
- Advanced Search - use the drop-down arrow, on the right, after your initial search to
- limit to a specific author
- limit by a specific publication
- limit by date
- Cited By - Scholar results will show the articles and books that have cited a work since it was published.
Settings and Accounts
- Settings - customize your search result experience
- Results per page - can increase and tell to open results in new window
- Library links - add St. Mary's University to see full-text results from our library databases
Personal Experience
- Creating Alerts - create alerts to searches by topic, author, journal; receive by email
- Claim Profile - published authors can create a profile to showing publications and their impact
Metrics
- Impact - number of times articles from a particular publication have been cited in the past 5 years
- Journals by Discipline - highest cited journals by discipline
- Search by Journal Title - look for an individual journal to get an idea of impact and articles with highest number of citations
- Google Scholar MetricsGoogle Scholar Metrics provide an easy way for authors to quickly gauge the visibility and influence of recent articles in scholarly publications. This database is freely available.
- Gogle Scholar Metrics HelpDescribes metrics and gives information about coverage and inclusion.
- Google Scholar Search TipsTips for searching, email alerts, setting up library links, citation help, coverage, and more.
Search Tips Across Google
Think about what you are trying to find
- Select good keywords. Ask yourself: How would someone creating a site about my topic write about it?
- Word order matters - example: blue sky vs sky blue finds different results
- Special characters - Google recognizes: %, $
- Some things don't matter: capitalization, most special characters
Power Searching in Google
- Quotes - use to search for a phrase ("international monetary fund" )
- Site operators - site:edu; site:gov; site:org to limit your search a type of website
- Filetype searches - search for specific types of file, Ex: filetype:pdf; filetype:ppt
- OR search - search: cat OR feline to find both variants on cats
- NOT search, cut out words you don't need - Ex. search for e-Readers but not Amazon Kindle: e-reader -kindle
- Tools menu
- Limit by date - set date range
- Verbatim - results without Google's personalization options enabled (no synonyms, spelling corrections, stemming/truncation, similar results.
- Advanced Search box - the gear icon from a Google search will bring up the Advanced Search
A useful browser feature is to search for text on a webpage - use Control-F (PC) or Command-F (Mac) and search for your word.
- Google Advanced SearchUse this search to search by phrase; AND, OR, NOT; by language, domain (website), and more.
More Google Searches
- Google Advanced SearchUse this search to search by phrase; AND, OR, NOT; by language, domain (website), and more.
- Google Dataset Search"Enables users to find datasets stored across the Web through a simple keyword search. The tool surfaces information about datasets hosted in thousands of repositories across the Web." Be sure to limit to things like "Free" to see universally-available datasets.
- Google ImagesSearch for images. Some images, but not all, are in the public domain.
- Google MapsMap search includes street view, satellite images, terrain, traffic, tips to embed maps, information about places, and more.
- Google PatentsSearch patents from around the world. The advanced search lets you search by date, inventor, assignee, patent office, etc.
- Google Search HelpThe place to find tips on how to search Google using power searching methods.
- Google TranslateComputer translation from one language to another.
- Google TrendsSee how often a term has been searched on Google over time. You can limit by country and sort by subregions, time, subject categories, and various types of Google products.
- Google VideosFind videos from YouTube, Vimeo, and other video sources.