Skip to Main Content
Google Scholar FYI
A few of the con's:
- Searches are not case sensitive.
- Keywords may be entered in lower or upper case or a combination of both.
- Boolean operator AND is assumed.
- Word order matters.
- The first word of the search string is ranked higher than the second, which is ranked slightly higher than the third, and so on.
- Google uses automatic word stemming.
- Google does not allow wildcards to be used for variable ends of words. e.g. Islam? can not search Islamic, Islamists.
- Not all content Google Scholar searches is peer reviewed.
- You may be prompted to pay for articles depending on their origin.
- We do not know how much Google Scholar searches. Speculation, however, is that library databases provide access to more.
A few of the pro's:
- Searches are submitted using natural language.
- Google Scholar also provides links to articles that are “Cited By” and “Related Articles.”
- Google Scholar's Advanced Search helps you construct a more complex search.
- Limit to discipline, date range, journal name, author
- Open access literature is included in search results.
- QSpace OA content is included.
- Google Scholar can be customized to include @your library links to full text documents.
