How to use Google Scholar

Google Scholar builds upon the functionality of the Google search engine to bring you a discovery tool for scholarly material. It combines information from a number of scholarly databases... and consolidates it into a single, easy search. While it looks and functions like Google web search, there are a couple of key differences that are worth noting. Unlike Google web search, Google Scholar sports an advanced search feature that more closely mirrors a library database. This feature allows you to quickly limit results in a number of ways... such as to a specific author, publication, or date range. To access the advanced search feature, click on the arrow at the end of the search box and choose the search method that you desire. It’s worth noting that some of the options mirror the Boolean logic that you’d find in library databases. Note that “with all of the words” equates to an AND... “with at least one of the words” is an OR... and “without the words” is equivalent to a NOT. Typing a phrase in the “with the exact phrase” box is the same as putting quotes around your search terms. For more information on using Boolean terms or other tips in your searches, please contact a librarian. By default, the Google Scholar results page lists results based on relevance. You can change the order of your results or further refine your search using the options on the left side of the screen. Result entries contain the information that is required to cite the article... including the title of the article, the author or authors... the journal or book title, publication date, and access information. At the bottom of the entry, you'll find the "Cited by" feature. Clicking it will take you to related articles, which have cited this work. To the right of the entry, you will find information regarding how to access the full-text of the article. Note, however, that if accessing it from off-campus... your library preferences must be set-up in order to receive the EMU Find Text+ option... and be connected to EMU’s holdings. The easiest way to do this is to access Google Scholar from the library’s databases page. Alternately, you can select “settings” from the Google Scholar homepage, then “Library links.” Type “Eastern Michigan University” into the search box... and make sure to check the box in front of “Eastern Michigan University – Full-text @ EMU Find Text+.” For further information or additional tips on using Google Scholar... click the “About Google Scholar” link at the bottom of the page or contact a librarian. English