LEARN IT @ THE LIBRARY: GOOGLE SCHOLARMANDI GOODSETT, PERFORMING ARTS & HUMANITIES LIBRARIAN

PLAN

Why use Google Scholar? How does it work?

Basic Searching

Advanced Search Tips

Citations

Getting Help

RESEARCH GUIDE

WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT GOOGLE SCHOLAR?

Work on your own or with a partner to find the

answers to the questions. Use the first two tabs in the

library research guide at the following link to help

you:

http://researchguides.csuohio.edu/googlescholar

WHY USE GOOGLE SCHOLAR?

PURPOSE OF GOOGLE SCHOLAR

PURPOSE OF GOOGLE SCHOLAR

Convenient way to find research

articles

Can explore related works easily

Links to the full text on the web

or through the library

Keep up with scholarly

conversation in a field

Can track citations

HOW DOES GOOGLE RANK RESULTS?

"Google Scholar aims to rank documents the way researchers do,

weighing the full text of each document, where it was published, who it

was written by, as well as how often and how recently it has been cited

in other scholarly literature."

HOW DOES GOOGLE RANK RESULTS?

"Google Scholar aims to rank documents the way researchers do,

weighing the full text of each document, where it was published, who it

was written by, as well as how often and how recently it has been cited

in other scholarly literature."

STRENGTHS & WEAKNESSES OF

GOOGLE SCHOLAR

STRENGTHS & WEAKNESSES OF GOOGLE SCHOLAR

Strengths

Helpful for finding articles related

to subject of interest

Helpful for finding “grey

literature”

Easier to find obscure references

Can search books and articles at

the same time (although you

can do that on the library

website too)

STRENGTHS & WEAKNESSES OF GOOGLE SCHOLAR

Weaknesses

Can’t browse by discipline

Few sorting/limiting options

Many library resources not

represented

Full text for everything not

accessible

Ranking? What’s included?

WOULD YOU USE GOOGLE SCHOLAR?

You are writing a research paper for your English

class and need to find peer-reviewed sources. Your

topic is the play Hamlet and you need sources from

common, authoritative journals in the field of

literature.

WOULD YOU USE GOOGLE SCHOLAR?

A. Yes

B. No

Yes

No

50%50%

WOULD YOU USE GOOGLE SCHOLAR?

You have been assigned to do a project for your

theatre history class. You are researching a fairly

contemporary, obscure playwright for your project

and are having trouble finding sources.

WOULD YOU USE GOOGLE SCHOLAR?

A. Yes

B. No

Yes

No

50%50%

WOULD YOU USE GOOGLE SCHOLAR?

You are writing a thesis paper and are trying to

conduct as thorough of a literature review as

possible about your topic, music therapy and autistic

children. You have already reviewed the library’s

resources.

WOULD YOU USE GOOGLE SCHOLAR?

A. Yes

B. No

Yes

No

50%50%

BASIC SEARCHING

QUICK REVIEW

How do I set my preferences to show Cleveland

State in Google Scholar?

How do I eliminate results that are patents?

Where can I see how many times an article has been

cited?

How do I get to the full text of an article I find?

ADVANCED SEARCHING

ADVANCED TECHNIQUES

Find related stuff

Related articles links

Cited by links

Use the reference list in

relevant article

ADVANCED TECHNIQUES

Nifty searching tricks

Use “authored by” field

Use quotes for phrases

Use “where my words

occur” field to get

more specific

FIND IT!

With a partner, find 2 articles about a topic you choose

together. Fill in the info about your articles listed on the

handout.

TRACKING CITATIONS

TRACKING CITATIONS

TRACKING CITATIONS

Save

articles to

view later

Track the

citation of

articles you

have

written

Get alerts

when

others

cite your

work

Get stats

about the

citation of

your work

NEED MORE HELP?

GETTING HELP

Ask a librarian!

a.goodsett@csuohio.ed

u

Ask Your Personal

Librarian page

http://researchguides.c

suohio.edu/googlescho

lar

Google Scholar Help

MINUTE PAPER

1) One thing you learned

2) One thing you wish you knew more about/are still confused about

3) Any other comments or questions

Don’t forget to fill out your survey as you leave!