Advanced Search Strategies

As a research tool, Google Scholar has strengths and weaknesses in facilitating research. When deciding whether to use Google Scholar as a resource, here are some things to keep in mind.

Google Scholar can help you:

• Locate more information when you only have a partial citation.
• Access books and articles in a single search.
• Help you identify journal titles and authors connected with your research interests.

Google Scholar cannot:

• Limit search results.
• Browse by title.
• Sort/search by disciplinary field.

Google Scholar retrieves a list of CITATIONS and links to full-text only if:

• Full-text is available from an open access journal.
• The author/creator posted the article on a personal website.
• The author/creator posted the article in a university's scholar commons website.
• The library provides direct links to materials in the subscription databases. Generally, login credentials will be required before access is granted to full-text.

Google Scholar offers the option to limit your retrieved records to specific types of items, including Articles, Case Law, and Profiles.

Use Advanced Search strategies to narrow results. Click on the Menu icon in the upper left corner of the Google Scholar search screen. From there you can enter your search terms to find:

• ALL of the words (equivalent to Boolean AND)
• EXACT PHRASE (equivalent to using quotation marks or parentheses for phrase searching)
• AT LEAST ONE of the words (equivalent to Boolean OR)
• WITHOUT the words (equivalent to Boolean NOT)

You can also search by AUTHOR, PUBLICATION TITLE, and PUBLICATION DATE range.