How do i use google scholar?
Answer
Google Scholar allows you to search for scholarly literature in a variety of different sources like articles and magazines, across a broad range of disciplines like history, medicine, or computer science. Even better, Google Scholar gives you a way to link it to our databases so that you access the library's electronic resources in addition to what is available in Google Scholar. Please remember, however, you should always critically evaluate the resources at which you're looking before using them in your research.
Linking Google Scholar to UW Oshkosh Libraries databases
- Navigate to Google Scholar.
- From there, click the three horizontal bars (boxed in red, upper left corner) then click the "Settings" tab (boxed in blue):
- Next, click the "library links" from the options on the left (highlighted in red):
- On the following page, you'll be given the option to search for a particular academic library institution. If you're on-campus using Google Scholar, UW Oshkosh Libraries will already be linked in! If off-campus, search for "University of Wisconsin Oshkosh", then click the blue "Save" button (boxed in red) to confirm:
- Now, when you run a search, items available in full text in Google Scholar or the library databases will either appear as PDFs/html full text, or with a "Find it at UW Oshkosh" link (boxed in red):
Using advanced features:
Google Scholar also contains two useful features when running a literature source: cited reference searching and author profiles.
Cited reference searching allows one to view a source, then see what other articles, books, and other publications have cited that work in their works. In this way, one can potentially find other similar and useful sources for their research as well as trace the development of an idea forward in time from a particular point. As an example, this source has been cited 72 times (boxed in red) since its publication in 1980:
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Clicking that "Cited by 72" as shown above will take you to a new screen with all 72 sources. You may either browse the sources, or click the checkbox "search within citing articles" (boxed in red) and add a more specific keyword or phrase to the search box and narrow your results further:
The other useful feature is the Author profile link. This is an optional feature that allows authors to set up a profile with Google Scholar which lists all of their academic publications. It can be a good way to find important authors in a particular field of study, as well as sources which may all relate to a similar theme or topic. If an author has set up a profile, their name will be underlined as seen in the examples below (boxed in red):
Clicking their name will bring you to their profile, which not only lists all their published works, but the cited by information for each of those works along the right side (highlighted in red):
