Google Scholar

1. Google Scholar Tools, Tips, and Tricks Ben Hockenberry Systems Librarian SJFC Lavery Library

2. In this Session, We’ll Answer: • What’s in Google Scholar (GS)? • What are the pros and cons of using it? • How do I search GS? • How do I narrow my results? • How do I link to Library Resources? • How do I find related results? • How does reference management software work with GS? • What else can I do with it?

3. What’s in Google Scholar? • Articles • Theses • Books and book chapters • Abstracts • Court opinions • Technical reports • Conference papers • …and much more

4. What’s in Google Scholar? These resources are gathered from “academic publishers, professional societies, online repositories, universities and other web sites.”1 A 2009 study found Google Scholar, on average, 17.6 percent more scholarly than materials found only in library databases.2This is a relevant tool that should be understood.

5. Pros and Cons The Good The Bad Full coverage unknown, as GS doesn’t publish a list of sources Few search options—can’t limit by source type Peer-review indeterminate Limited information about articles (metadata) Citations from non-journals may skew “cited” counts • High number of journals • Keyword searching in many articles • Broad array of resources, with comparable “scholarliness” to subscription databases • Powerful “cited by” tool

6. “Advanced” Searching • Google has made a name for themselves with intelligent search results – a keyword search gets you far. • Click the down arrow from the search box to see advanced options. More tips: http://scholar.google.com/intl/en/scholar/refinesearch.html

7. “Advanced” Searching • You can use these search boxes to get to a specific article, to find articles published in the last five years, or to make a subject search more exact. More tips: http://scholar.google.com/intl/en/scholar/refinesearch.html

8. Narrowing Results • A results page looks like this: • There are not many “limiters,” but limiting by date is very useful. • You can remove patents or citation-only results from your list. • If you see many irrelevant articles, use a “-” sign before a term in your search to remove results that contain that keyword.Example: [potter –harry] • You can set up an email “alert” for new articles published about your search topic right from this screen

9. Full-text and Library Links • For many “open access” resources in Google Scholar, clicking the title will get you to full-text. • If there’s no full-text, or if a site asks you to pay for access, look for access elsewhere through open access sources or Library Links. • If not, there may be a PDF link on the right. • Otherwise, use a Library Link!

10. Full-text and Library Links • The library link, labeled “Get it @ Fisher,” should display automatically if you’re in a campus academic building. • If you’re off-campus or in a dorm, you may need to set up a library link – click the icon to add a library link. • In this screen, search for St. John Fisher College, select the Get it @ Fisher option, and click Save. • Detailed instructions to set this up are at http://libguides.sjfc.edu/googlescholar

11. Finding “Related” Results • In a results screen, you can click “Cited by” to see articles in the future that cite the article you’re looking at. • The “Related articles” link is a little less clear:“It finds documents similar to the given search result.”1 • This appears to find articles with similar keywords and cited references – but Google doesn’t say what it is.

12. Reference Management • Zotero users can gather basic citation data from a result list using the Firefox, Chrome or Safari addons. • EndNote or RefWorks users can set an option by clicking the Settings “gear” and selecting a Bibliography Manager option. You’ll then see an “Import into” link in your results list. • The automatically-generated citation data may be very inaccurate: please review your bibliography data to ensure it’s consistent with citation standards.3

13. There’s More? • Google Scholar, thanks to its citation index, has become a powerful tool for academics to track their publications. • More information about Google Scholar’s author and journal metrics, check out http://scholar.google.com/intl/en/scholar/metrics.html

14. Because it’s Google, after all… Image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nagy/195726977/ CC-SA License Let’s dive right in

15. What I’m working on… I’m working on a paper for Philosophy Day on the topic of Aaron Swartz’s bulk download of JSTOR articles. • I have enough news and popular sources– need scholarly stuff • Topic is really current • I don’t want to dwell on his death Aaron Swartz, 2011, fromhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/creativecommons/3111021669/

16. I’m going to try Google Scholar. • I tried a few library databases first • Maybe I didn’t get the results I want • Maybe I want to find more • Let’s see what we can find!

17. What I’m working on… • What keywords should use? • What limiters should I use? • How do I get the articles? Aaron Swartz, 2011, fromhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/creativecommons/3111021669/

18. Resources More info on Google Scholar and Open Access Sources: • Research Guide: http://libguides.sjfc.edu/googlescholar • PowerPoint on Open Access Resources: http://citadel.sjfc.edu/staff/bhockenberry/documents/OA_Resources_and_Search.pptx(linked at the above Research Guide)

19. References • http://scholar.google.com/intl/en/scholar/about.html • Howland, J. L., Wright, T. C., Boughan, R. A., & Roberts, B. C. (2009). How scholarly Is Google Scholar? A comparison to library databases. College & Research Libraries, 70(3), 227–234. • Jacsó, P. (2010). Metadata mega mess in Google Scholar. Online Information Review, 34(1), 175-191. doi: 10.1108/14684521011024191