How to use Google scholar: the ultimate guide - Paperpile

Google Scholar (GS) is a free academic search engine that can be thought of as the academic version of Google. Rather than searching all of the indexed ... ResearchWritingResourcesFeaturesPricingHelpGuidesResearchAcademicDatabasesGoogleScholar:theultimateguideWhatisGoogleScholar?GoogleScholar(GS)isafreeacademicsearchenginethatcanbethoughtofastheacademicversionofGoogle.Ratherthansearchingalloftheindexedinformationontheweb,itsearchesrepositoriesofpublishers,universitiesorscholarlywebsites.ThisisgenerallyasmallersubsetofthepoolthatGooglesearches.It'salldoneautomatically,butstillmostoftheresultsofasearchtendtobereliablescholarlysources.However,Googleisalsolesscarefulinwhatitincludesinsearchresultsthanaremorecuratedsubscriptionbased,academicdatabasessuchasScopusandWebofScience,soitisworthmakingyourownassessmentofthecredibilityoftheresourceslinkedthroughGoogleScholar.WelcomescreenofGoogleScholar:IfyouareloggedinwithyourGoogleScholarprofileyougettoseealistofrecommendedarticles.Whyisitbetterthan"normal"Googleforfindingresearchpapers?WealluseGoogleforourdailyinternetsearches,sowhyshouldweswitchtoGoogleScholar?OneadvantageofusingGoogleScholaristhattheinterfaceiscomfortingandfamiliartoanyonewhousesGoogle.Thislowersthelearningcurveoffindingscholarlyinformation.ThereareanumberofusefuldifferencesfromaregularGooglesearch,suchastheoptiontocopyaformattedcitationindifferentstylesincludingMLAandAPAexportbibliographicdata(BibTeX,RIS)tousewithreferencemanagementsoftwarelinksthatletyouexplorewhichotherworkshavecitedthelistedworklinksthatletyoueasilyfindfulltextversionsofthearticleAlthoughitisfreetosearchinGoogleScholar,mostofthecontentisnotfreelyavailable,butGoogledoesitsbesttofindcopiesofrestrictedarticlesinpublicrepositorieswhichoftencontainearlierdrafts(preprints).Ifyouareatanacademicorresearchinstitution,youcanalsosetupalibraryconnectiontohighlightitemswhichareavailablethroughyourinstitution’ssubscriptions.TheGoogleScholarsearchresultspageSincesearchinginGoogleScholarisasstraightforwardassearchinginGoogle,it'sbesttojumprightinandgiveitatry.GoogleScholarsearchresultsusingthekeywords"machine"and"learning"Thesearchresultpageis,however,differentanditisworthbeingfamiliarwiththedifferentpiecesofinformationthatareshown.Let'shavealookattheresultsforthesearchterm"machinelearning”.Thefirsttwolines:corebibliographicinformationThefirsttwolinesofaGoogleScholarsearchresultsentryshowthecorebibliographicinformation:Title,authors,journalname,yearofpublicationThefirsttwolinesofeachresultprovidethetitleofthedocument(e.g.ofanarticle,book,chapter,orreport).Thesecondlineprovidesthebibliographicinformationaboutthedocument,inorder:theauthor(s),thejournalorbookitappearsin,theyearofpublication,andthepublisher.Clickingonthetitlelinkwillbringyoutothepublisher’spagewhereyoumaybeabletoaccessmoreinformationaboutthedocumentincludingtheabstract,andoptionstodownloadthePDFofthedocument.Quickfulltext-accessoptionsForsomeentriesGoogleScholarprovidesalinktothefulltext(eitherPDForHTML).Tothefarrightoftheentryaremoredirectoptionsforobtainingthefulltextofthedocument.Inthisexample,GooglehasalsolocatedapubliclyavailablePDFofthedocumenthostedatumich.edu.Note,thatit'snotguaranteedthatitistheversionofthearticlethatwasfinallypublishedinthejournal.Thebottomline:"Citedby"countandotherusefullinksAdditionalactionlikestoretrieveformattedcitationsinpopularformatssuchasAPA,MLA,andChicago,andtoassesscitedbyandrelatedarticles.Belowthetextsnippet/abstractyoucanfindanumberofusefullinks.ThefirstoftheseistheCitedbylinkwillshowotherarticlesthathavecitedthisresource.Thatisasuperusefulfeaturethatcanhelpyouinmanyways.First,itisagoodwaytotrackthemorerecentresearchthathasreferencedthisarticle,andsecondthefactthatotherresearchescitedthisdocumentlendsgreatercredibilitytoit.Butbeawarethatthereisalaginpublicationtype.Therefore,anarticlepublishedin2017willnothaveanextensivenumberofcitedbyresults.Ittakesaminimumof6monthsformostarticlestogetpublished,soevenifanarticlewasusingthesource,themorerecentarticlehasnotbeenpublishedyet.TheVersionslinkwilldisplayotherversionsofthearticleorotherdatabaseswherethearticlemaybefound,someofwhichmayofferfreeaccesstothearticle.ClickingonthequotationmarkiconwilldisplayapopupwithcommonlyusedcitationformatssuchasMLA,APA,Chicago,Harvard,andVancouverthatmaybecopyandpasted.Note,however,thattheGoogleScholarcitationdataissometimesincompleteandsoitisoftenagoodideatocheckthisdataatthesource-i.e.byfollowingthetitlelinktothepublishers'website.The"cite"popupalsoincludeslinksforexportingthecitationdataasBibTeXorRISfilesthatanymajorreferencemanagercanimport.GoogleScholarallowstoretrieveformattedcitationsinpopularformatssuchasAPA,MLA,Chicago,HarvardandVancouver.ProtipsforyourliteraturesearchAlthoughGoogleScholarlimitseachsearchtoamaximumof1,000results,it'sstilltoomuchtoexplore,andyouneedaneffectivewayoflocatingtherelevantarticles.Wehaveputtogetheralistofprotipsthatwillhelpyousavetimeandsearchmoreeffectively:GoogleScholarsearchesarenotcasesensitive.Thatmeansasearchfor"MachineLearning"willproducethesameresultsasasearchfor"machinelearning".Usekeywordsinsteadoffullsentences.Let'ssayyourresearchtopicisaboutselfdrivingcars.ForaregularGooglesearchwemightentersomethinglike"whatisthecurrentstateofthetechnologyusedforselfdrivingcars".InGoogleScholaryouwillseelessthanidealresultsforthisquery.Thetrickistobuildalistofkeywordsandperformsearchesforthemlikeself-drivingcars,autonomousvehicles,ordriverlesscars.GoogleScholarwillassistyouonthat:ifyoustarttypinginthesearchfieldyouwillseerelatedqueriessuggestedbyScholar!Usequotestosearchforanexactmatch.Ifyouputyoursearchphraseintoquotesyoucansearchforexactmatchesofthatphraseinthetitleandthebodytextofthedocument.Withoutquotes,GoogleScholarwilltreateachwordseparately.Thismeansthatifyousearchnationalparks,thewordswillnotnecessarilyappeartogether.Groupedwordsandexactphrasesshouldbeenclosedinquotationmarks.Addtheyeartothesearchphrasetogetarticlespublishedinaparticularyear.Asearchusinge.g.self-drivingcars2015,willreturnarticlesorbookspublishedin2015.Usethesidebarcontrolstoadjustyoursearchresult.Usingtheoptionsinthelefthandpanelyoucanfurtherrestrictthesearchresultsbylimitingtheyearscoveredbythesearch,theinclusionorexcludeofpatents,andyoucansorttheresultsbyrelevanceorbydate.UseBooleanoperatortobettercontrolyoursearches.Searchesarenotcasesensitive,however,thereareanumberofBooleanoperatorsyoucanusetocontrolthesearchandthesemustbecapitalized.ANDrequiresbothofthewordsorphrasesoneithersidetobesomewhereintherecord.NOTcanbeplacedinfrontofawordorphrasestoexcluderesultswhichincludethem.ORwillgiveequalweighttoresultswhichmatchjustoneofthewordsorphrasesoneitherside.Incaseyougotoverwhelmedbythosemanyoptions,wehaveputtogethersomeillustrativeexamplesbelow:ExamplequeriesWhentouseandwhatwillitdo?"alternativemedicine"Multiwordconceptslikealternativemedicinearebestsearchedasanexactphrasematch.OtherwiseGoogleScholarwilldisplayresultsthatcontainalternativeand/ormedicine."Thewisdomofthehive:thesocialphysiologyofhoneybeecolonies"Ifyouarelookingforaparticulararticleandyouknowthetitleitisbesttoputitintoquotestolookforanexactmatch.author:"JaneGoodall"Aqueryforaparticularauthor,e.g.JaneGoodall.Also"JGoodall"or"Goodall"willwork,butwillbelessrestrictive."self-drivingcars"AND"autonomousvehicles"Onlyresultswillbeshowthatcontainboththephrases"self-drivingcars"and"autonomousvehicles"dinosaur2014Limitssearchresultsaboutdinosaurstoaticlesthatwerepublsihedin2014TheadvancedsearchinterfaceYoucangainevenmorefine-grainedcontroloveryoursearchbyusingtheadvancedsearchfeature.Ifyouareintheexplorationstageofinformationseeking,thenadvancedsearchcouldprematurelylimittheinformationyouareseeing,butifyouarefamiliarwiththeresultsthatarereturned,thenadvancedsearchtoolscangiveyouadditionalcontrolsoverthesearchtohelpyounarrowinonmorerelevantresults.Thisfeatureisavailablebyclickingonthehamburgermenuintheupperleftandselectingthe"Advancedsearch"menuitem.GoogleScholaradvancedsearchinterface.Thefieldsarefairlyself-explanatory.Thisadvancedsearchdepictedabove,forexample,wouldresultsinarticlesorbooktitlespublishedbetween1990and2000whichincludethewordsdinosaur,fossilsanddevonianbutdonotincludethephrase“UnitedStates”anywhereinthetitleortext(ifavailable)ofthesearchresult.CustomizingsearchpreferencesandoptionsAdjustingtheGoogleScholarsettingsisnotnecessaryforgettinggoodresultsbutofferssomeadditionalcustomization,includingtheabilitytoenabletheabove-mentionedlibraryintegrations.ThesettingsmenuisfoundinthehamburgermenulocatedinthetopleftoftheGoogleScholarpage.Thesettingsaredividedintofivesections:SearchResults-thissectionhasthemostcommoncontrols,including:Collectionstosearch-bydefaultGooglescholarsearchesarticlesandincludespatents,butthisdefaultcanbechangedhereifyouarenotinterestedinpatentsorifyouwishtooftensearchcaselawinstead.Bibliographicmanager-ifyouareusinganacademicreferencemanagerotherthanPaperpile,youcanenabletheexportoftherelevantcitationdataformatviathe“Bibliographymanager”subsection.TheavailableoptionsareBibTex(forLatexeditors),EndNote(forEndNote),RefMan(forRefMan,Zotero,andMendeley,amongother),andRefWorks.Languages-Ifyouwishforresultstoreturnonlyarticleswritteninaspecificsubsetoflanguages,youcandefinethathere.Librarylinks-Asnoted,GoogleScholarallowsyoutogettheFullTextofarticlesthroughyourinstitution’ssubscriptions-whereavailable.Searchforandaddyourinstitution(s)heretohavetherelevantlinkincludedinyoursearchresults.Button-TheScholarButtonisaChromeextensionwhichaddadropdownsearchboxtoyourtoolbar-allowingyoutosearchGoogleScholarfromanywebsite.Moreover,ifyouhaveanytextselectedonthepageandthenclickthebuttonitwilldisplayresultsfromasearchonthosewordswhenclicked.Usethe"Mylibrary"featuretobookmarkarticlesyouwanttoreadlateronWhensignedin,GoogleScholaraddssomesimpletoolsforkeepingtrackofandorganizingthearticlesyoufind.Thesecanbeusefulifyouarenotusingafullacademicreferencemanager.Allthesearchresultsincludea“save”buttonattheendofthebottomrowoflinks,clickingthiswilladdittoyour"MyLibrary".Tohelpyouprovidesomestructure,youcancreateandapplylabelstotheitemsinyourlibrary.Appendedlabelswillappearattheendofthearticletitles.Forexample,thefollowingarticlehasbeenassigneda“RNA”label:AGoogleScholarMyLibraryentrywithalabeltermedRNA.WithinyourGoogleScholarlibrary,youcanalsoeditthemetadataassociatedwithtitles.ThiswilloftenbenecessaryasGoogleScholarcitationdataisoftenfaulty.ThescopeandlimitationsofGoogleScholarThereisnoofficialstatementabouthowbigtheScholarsearchindexis,butunofficialestimatesareintherangeofabout160millions,anditissupposedtocontinuetogrowbyseveralmillionseachyear.Yet,GoogleScholardoesnotreturnallresourcesthatyoumaygetinsearchatyoulocallibrarycatalog.Forexample,alibrarydatabasecouldreturnpodcasts,videos,articles,statistics,orspecialcollections.Fornow,GoogleScholarhasonlythefollowingpublicationtypes:Journalarticles:articlespublishedinjournals.It'samixtureofarticlesfrompeerreviewedjournals,predatoryjournalsandpre-printarchives.Books:LinkstotheGooglelimitedversionofthetext,whenpossible.Bookchapters:Chapterswithinabook,sometimestheyarealsoelectronicallyavailable.Bookreviews:Reviewsofbooks,butitisnotalwaysapparentthatitisareviewfromthesearchresult.Conferenceproceedings:-Paperswrittenaspartofaconference,typicallyusedaspartofpresentationattheconference.CourtopinionsPatents:GoogleScholaronlysearchespatentsiftheoptionisselectedinthesearchsettingsdescribedabove.TheinformationinGoogleScholarisnotcatalogedbyprofessionals.ThequalityofmetadatawilldependheavilyonthesourcethatGoogleScholarispullingtheinformationfrom.ThisisamuchdifferentprocesstohowinformationiscollectedandindexedinscholarlydatabasessuchasScopusorWebofScience.AbriefhistoryofGoogleScholarThekeyinventorbehindGoogleScholarisAnuragAcharya,whohasbeenontheGoogleScholarTeamsinceitwasreleasedbackin2004.CheckoutthispieceinWIREDforthewholebackgroundstory.Hereisabrieftimelineoftheupdatesthathappenedsincethen:June2010:GoogleScholarAlertswaslaunchedNovember2011:GoogleScholarCitationswaslaunchedApril2012:GoogleScholar[MetricsarereleasedforthefirsttimeMay2012:completeoverhauloftheGoogleScholarinterfaceOctober2012:thecitefeaturewasintroducedandallowstofetchaMLA,APAorChicagocitationofanarticleNovember2013:GoogleScholarLibraryisreleasedwhichallowsuserstosavearticlesfoundinGoogleScholartoapersonallibraryJune2016:querysuggestionslikeweknowthemfromregularGooglesearchesarenowalsoavailableinGoogleScholarAugust2016:abilitytoaddlabelstoarticlesstoredinauser'spersonalGoogleScholarlibrarySeptember2017:redesignoftheGoogleScholarresultspageMarch2018:improvedexperienceformobilephonesAugust2018:2018ScholarMetricsreleasedIfyouwanttodigdeeperthentakealookattheofficialGoogleScholarBlog.AlternativestoGoogleScholarGoogleScholarisbyfarthemostfrequentlyusedacademicsearchengine,butitisnottheonlyone.ThereisMicrosoftAcademicwhichafteritsrelaunchin2015seemstobetheclosestcompetitor.ThenewkidontheblockisSemanticScholardevelopedbythenon-profitAllenInstituteforArtificialIntelligence.It'scurrentlycorpusconsistsofabout40millioncitationsincomputer.CountryspecificGoogleScholareditionsscholar.google.fr:Surlesépaulesd'ungéantscholar.google.es(GoogleAcadémico):Ahombrosdegigantesscholar.google.pt(GoogleAcadémico):Sobreosombrosdegigantesscholar.google.de:AufdenSchulternvonRiesenFrequentlyAskedQuestionsaboutGoogleScholarCanGoogleScholarbedescribedasabibliographicdatabase?No.GoogleScholarisabibliographicsearchengineratherthanabibliographicdatabase.InordertoqualifyasadatabaseGoogleScholarwouldneedtohavestableidentifiersforitsrecords,andmakesurethatnorecordswillberemoved.IsGoogleScholarascholarlysource?No.GoogleScholarisanacademicsearchengine,buttherecordsfoundinGoogleScholararescholarlysources.DoesGooglescholarcompilepeer-reviewedsourcesonly?No.GoogleScholarcollectsresearchpapersfromalloverthewebalsoincludinggreyliteratureandnon-peerreviewedpapersandreports.DoIhavetopaytouseGoogleScholar?GoogleScholardoesnotprovideanyfulltextcontentitself,butlinkstothefulltextarticleonthepublisherpage,whichcaneitherbeopenaccessorpaywalledcontent.GoogleScholar,however,triestoprovidelinkstofreeversionsofthearticlee.g.oninstitutionalrepositoriesifpossible.WhatistheeasiestwaytoaccessGoogleScholar?TheasiestwaytoaccessGooglescholarisbyusingTheGoogleScholarButton.ThisisabrowserextensionthatallowsyoueasilyaccessGoogleScholarfromanywebpage.YoucaninstallitfromtheChromeWebstore.RelatedArticlesThebestresearchdatabasesforcomputerscienceThebestacademicresearchdatabasesAcademicresearch:howtosearchonlinedatabasesWhatisGoogleScholar?Whyisitbetterthan"normal"Googleforfindingresearchpapers?TheGoogleScholarsearchresultspageProtipsforyourliteraturesearchTheadvancedsearchinterfaceCustomizingsearchpreferencesandoptionsUsethe"Mylibrary"featuretobookmarkarticlesyouwanttoreadlateronThescopeandlimitationsofGoogleScholarAbriefhistoryofGoogleScholarAlternativestoGoogleScholarCountryspecificGoogleScholareditionsFrequentlyAskedQuestionsaboutGoogleScholarRelatedArticles