Do you use Google Scholar for your research? Find out how it works, what it's good for, and how to use it to become a super researcher!

1. LEARN IT @ THE LIBRARY: GOOGLE SCHOLAR
MANDI GOODSETT, PERFORMING ARTS & HUMANITIES LIBRARIAN

2. PLAN
 Why use Google Scholar? How does it work?
 Basic Searching
 Advanced Search Tips
 Citations
 Getting Help

3. RESEARCH GUIDE

4. 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

5. WHY USE GOOGLE SCHOLAR?

6. PURPOSE OF GOOGLE SCHOLAR

7. 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

8. 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."

9. 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."

10. STRENGTHS & WEAKNESSES OF
GOOGLE SCHOLAR

11. 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)

12. 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?

13. 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.

14. WOULD YOU USE GOOGLE SCHOLAR?
A. Yes
B. No
Yes
No
50%50%

15. 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.

16. WOULD YOU USE GOOGLE SCHOLAR?
A. Yes
B. No
Yes
No
50%50%

17. 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.

18. WOULD YOU USE GOOGLE SCHOLAR?
A. Yes
B. No
Yes
No
50%50%

19. BASIC SEARCHING

20. 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?

21. ADVANCED SEARCHING

22. ADVANCED TECHNIQUES
 Find related stuff
 Related articles links
 Cited by links
 Use the reference list in
relevant article

23. ADVANCED TECHNIQUES
 Nifty searching tricks
 Use “authored by” field
 Use quotes for phrases
 Use “where my words
occur” field to get
more specific

24. 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.

25. TRACKING CITATIONS

26. TRACKING CITATIONS

27. 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

28. NEED MORE HELP?

29. 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

30. 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!