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Have you searched for or written a research paper, or looked for a source that is reliable and accurate to be used for class assignments? If so, then you have likely encountered and used Google Scholar.Free and may be useful-if you know how to use it to search.Everything you ever wanted to know about Google Scholar-beginner level and expert level.
What exactly is Google Scholar?
Google Scholar launched in 2004 as a search engine for academic papers, reports, and other research-based materials. Its purpose is to provide its users access only to scholarly and research literature. Since Google Scholar searches several other databases and search engines, it will likely provide results from these too.
Google Scholar will give you various reference types, such as from universities, publishers of scientific journals, professional organizations, and many others. What makes Google Scholar so appealing to users such as researchers and academicians, is that it has a superb search engine, making it easy to search for relevant scholarly works across various sites simultaneously.
Reasons for using Google Scholar.
The reasons outlined above and the multitude of other reasons-are what may have made Google Scholar the most valuable research tool across the globe for many academics.Since Google Scholar is free, it can appeal to more users than most other research database services which often come at an astronomically high price. As long as you have a computer with access to the internet, you can take advantage of this phenomenal resource.
Google Scholar is a vast resource. Based on the premise that in order for something to be placed in a database so many studies, publishers and sources whatever subject you choose to research it will inevitably be covered by Google Scholar. Be it medicine, literature or physics, etc.There are several sources that offer Citation information. When viewing an article, you will see a "Cited by" underneath, that number indicating how many studies have cited the work; This will be interesting to see what studies had quoted the same article in the works, and perhaps what would have be published more recently if it is that you are searching for the highest rated studies.
Speed-is an important feature that Google provides by creating a link that either appears and is already in a hypertext to a final copy of an article or through an immediate link at the bottom of the downloaded paper that will provide you with a free copy of the paper (pdf) from the respective publishers' page of a university, an author, or any institutions and so on.The Google Scholar pages are designed simply without complex or frustrating interfaces and are very similar to the regular google search page. The more that you use it the more that you grow accustomed to using it.
Tips on how to effectively search on Google Scholar
The basic search box on the home page may be sufficient for a quick simple search that you might require; however, some of the below tips can provide you with so much more and better results:Use the quotes " " marks for searches containing a specific phrase. Instead of typing "climate change adaptation" alone, using quotes"climate change adaptation" will only return pages that contain that phrase, rather than a page that includes words pertaining to that phrase and only those related words.- Use the-minus sign for excluded articles. If you were only going to conduct a study about jaguars but discovered you were going to get too many searches about a vehicle called a jaguar, you may wish to place it in a Jaguar-car and all searches not in relation to the vehicle would display.
This is the link that is situated in between the search box in the left of the page in the box. The link allows a user to specify by how many years they would like for the research they require to be displayed from the page; and if you require old or new studies in a given topic you can select which year the studies should be produced from by scrolling through the results box.A link called "Related Articles" are present underneath the article that you chose, that allows a user to search by the information provided in that article, which ultimately produces pages with similar results to the article that was viewed.
You have the option of setting up Google Scholar alerts if the topic that you are researching is changing and that the studies provided to you when you were searching may not cover newer articles that would have been published. If you then add search words and click upon the envelope that you see on the results, the email notification should commence automatically.
Creating a Google Scholar author profile
To introduce a final addition that Google Scholar has provided you with, and which may only be required if you are any of an author, academician or scientist is a Google Scholar author profile.If you are all of the above then you will be able to input all of your articles into a publication file. The Google Scholar website is able to give you citation counts that are required for the number of works produced by yourself. By doing so it is possible for you to see an estimation of your h index and your i 10 index, if required. Also, it will mean that scientists who want to quote you can find your work easier.
This process can take only one minute to complete as once your email account has been confirmed the Scholar should check your linked accounts (be it that of an institution of which you are employed by or a private one), then confirm that there are documents of such an author/works on an appropriate server.
Using Google Scholar to carry out a literature review
It might be beneficial to undertake a literature review too, since this will prove that the way the idea has evolved has been researched comprehensively. It's ideal to follow the subsequent guidelines;What is it about? Make sure your subjects are relatively broad and wide-reaching.Look over and investigate the most important articles for your topic;Check the "Cited by" and add to your knowledge, to find out where the ideas have gone over time;Research other findings after you have reached the end of the literature and need to look past. Type into the search box: Related articles and you will discover additional results to your chosen work.To ensure that you have found the newest research for your chosen article select to limit to the specific year.All the previous information would guarantee you a better comprehension of the research conducted over that specific period.
Google Scholar Citation Export tool
Once the article which is needed to cite has been found, Google Scholar is able to present to you a citation of what you have seen. The symbol of that quote is under the article and you may find your selected style of cite from the drop box; be it in APA style, Chicago style, Harvard style, etc. The system may as well transfer the information into EndNote, RefMan or BibTeX.
Limitations of Google Scholar
There are many good reasons for using Google Scholar, there are also disadvantages so here are a few to be aware of:
Coverage (incomplete). Because Google Scholar indexes the web rather than relying on a trusted and curated database, coverage can be uneven. Some areas are covered more comprehensively than others.
Unsatisfactory advanced search according to peer-review level. Since it is impossible to easily discriminate among peer-reviewed or Non peer-reviewed sources as we can in other databases such as Web of Science or PubMed, Google Scholar provides only sub-optimal advanced search.
Duplicate/possible duplicate/less quality listings. Since the sources of detailed information used are multi, obviously there are some duplicative or predatory listings.
Since Google is not too transparent about the criteria for ranking pages we can't be sure why one paper is ranked higher than another.
A significant limitation has been the fact that Google Scholar has not been indexed and thus, most authors choose to use it as a complementary tool in conjunction with few of the most respected scholarly indices, such as PubMed, JSTOR, Web of Science, Scopus among others.
Final Thoughts
Google Scholar is still the best free search engine a student or scholar can find on the web today. Its special features, ease of interface, citation trackers, alarms that pop-up whenever an article has text you're looking for, and information available on the authors make for the ultimate one-stop shop to start your research efforts. Just because Google Scholar is the best place to begin shouldn't imply that it's the place where you'll finish.Use Google Scholar for writing a paper of any kind.
Whether you're writing a term paper, seeking your next thesis idea, or simply trying to satisfy an odd interest or curiosity. Google Scholar, used smartly, can provide your information search time a significant reduction and the best sources more quickly. Follow these tips when learning Google Scholar and become a master of one of the most useful search engines available today and find your better quality sources quicker. Google Scholar Features, FAQs and More I hope that the tips provided here have you well on your way to master the google scholar search engine for all your future research.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Is Google Scholar free?
Yes, You can search freely the results you are after using the google scholar search engines without having to worry if there are restrictions due to costs involved.
Is Google scholar in the same vein as google?
No, google searches the entire world wide web in search for results ,while google scholar searches specifically in academic fields for (thesis etc.).
In most results, all papers searched are peer-review?
No,while they come from academics it doesn't mean they have been through rigorous reviewing (a number will come under preprints so check who actually wrote them).
How do you check if papers will be legit?
You can search to show results more widely by selecting show context, or just search using “ “.
How do you ensure full access?
While you may find a lot of papers with free viewing ,not all are available, you may have to follow the link by looking for “ “ for a to access other options or locate other library based locations etc..