Research Skills

Google Scholar indexes a wide range of scholarly material (articles, books, etc.), but it's no panacea to your research-gathering problems. Here are some tips to help you navigate the quirks of this search tool.

1. Google Scholar does not circumvent subscriptions.
   You cannot access an article if the library isn't subscribed to its journal. Scholar will display search results regardless of whether you can read the linked book or article. Pay attention to the right-hand side of the screen, which will show links to full-text versions of the article or entries for the book or article in your library's catalogue.
2. Google Scholar does not index everything.
   Scholar does not encompass every single academic resource you may be interested in. If you wanted to thoroughly research a topic, you will want to search in multiple databases, especially subject-specific ones. You can find a list of databases the library subscribed to here.
3. No access through Scholar isn't the end of the search.
   If you cannot access an article through Google Scholar, there may still be hope. You can put in an interlibrary loan request for the item through your university library.
4. Google search strategies still apply in Scholar
   Use your repertoire of search tricks in Scholar just as you would in regular Google. You can also make use of Scholar's filters and advanced search features to target specific authors or journals or limit your results to a particular time span.
5. Follow the citations.
   Underneath each search result will be a link reading "Cited by [#number]". Following this link will take you to a list of other research papers that included the article in their bibliographies. Use this feature to discover other papers with a similar goal or method as a particularly interesting article.
6. Confirm that Scholar knows of your university affiliation.
   It is possible that Scholar may not recognize that you have access to your university's collection of subscriptions. To confirm you university affiliation in Scholar:
   1. Select the menu (three horizontal bars in the upper-left corner) and choose "Settings".
   2. Select "Library links" from the list of options on the left side of the page.
   3. You will see a checklist of libraries whose access links are visible to you. If you do not see your library in this list, you can manually search for it and add it through the search bar.
7. Make use of the citation generator.
   Google Scholar will generate citations for indexed items. Beneath each search result, you will see a quotation mark icon. Click this to receive a list of citations for the paper in five commonly used styles. Then copy whatever citation style you prefer nd pate it into your target document.