Google Scholar

Advantages

Google Scholar can be useful when searching:

• "Grey literature" such as conference proceedings
• Across multiple disciplines
• For multiple types of documents (articles, proceedings, books)

Google Scholar can also help you quickly identify who is publishing in your area of research.

Disadvantages

• not knowing what is included or not included
• not knowing when it's updated
• many older articles
• can't browse by title
• no way to limit search results

If you need advanced searching features or recent articles, try one of the databases the library subscribes to. Many are included in the other tabs in this subject guide. Or you can browse all of our databases by subject.

Ask yourself:

• When should you use Google Scholar, and when should you use a different search engine?
• When would it be more productive to use a database that the Library subscribes to for students, faculty, and staff?