3-Bullet Summary
You’ll benefit more from reading the article the whole way through. But, if you’re pressed for time, here’s a condensed version of The Ultimate Guide to Mastering Google Scholar Research:
- Google Scholar is the best tool students can learn to find academic sources for their assignments.
- Basic searches on Google Scholar will return masses of relevant articles.
- Advanced searching skills, such as the advanced search interface and Boolean operators, are critical to obtaining refined search results that are directly relevant to research topics.
Introduction
Do you know what the most powerful free research tool on the internet is?
It’s Google Scholar.
Do you want to know how to use the most powerful free research tool on the internet to skyrocket your grades?
Then you’ve come to the right place.
This guide to Google Scholar research will give you everything you need to know about the search engine. You’ll learn both basic and advanced searching skills so you can uncover the most relevant academic sources during your research.
What is Google Scholar?
Google Scholar is Google’s brother who went to university.
Like Google, it is a free search engine. Unlike Google, it is a free academic search engine. This means it links you to academic sources that are recognised as scientific, scholarly evidence for your assignments. Hence, you won’t just be taken to random webpages, like you would on Google.
It is therefore super important for supplying materials that you can cite in your essays to prove that the claims you’re making aren’t based on pseudo-science.
However, it is important to note that not all the sources it links you to are academic. Sometimes, you’ll be linked to a page that doesn’t meet the criteria of a traditional scholarly source. Hence, to be safe, always read through the source you’re linked to and make your own judgement about its credibility.
Google Scholar Research: Basic Searching
When you enter Google Scholar into your search engine, you’ll be taken to the search bar.
To demonstrate how to use Google Scholar for research purposes, we’re going to pretend we’re writing an essay on Internet addiction. If we enter our key words into the search bar, we’ll get loads of relevant academic sources.
As you can see, bibliographic information, such as the authors’ names and the title of the academic source, is displayed alongside a source’s date of publication.
Search Results
The top of the page will tell you how many academic sources your search returned.
You’ll know exactly what Google is searching for based on the bold text of the sources displayed.
In our case, ‘internet addiction’ is being frequently highlighted, which is exactly what we wanted search results to be about. However, ‘internet’ and ‘addiction’ are also being respectively highlighted, meaning we’re getting results that are relevant to the key words together and individually.
This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. But, if you want results specific to the exact key words you entered in a specific order, then you’ll need to use advanced search features, which we’ll cover soon.
Accessibility
Some academic sources you find during your Google Scholar research will be locked behind paywalls. However, others will be freely accessible, meaning you can read them the whole way through at no cost.
You can ascertain whether an academic source displayed on Google Scholar is free from the results page. If you look to the right, a quick link to the full text will be provided if the source is free.
Just because you don’t see a link doesn’t mean you can’t access the source, however. For instance, if you belong to an institution like a university or college, clicking the download button on a journal article that’s behind a paywall may prompt you to sign in. (This button will be in the article itself and not downloadable through Google Scholar.) If you do this, there’s a good chance that you’ll then have access to it.
Google Scholar Research: Advanced Searching
You now have a working understanding of a basic Google Scholar search and the results page. Nonetheless, if you want to find the most relevant academic literature for whatever you’re researching, then it’s time to develop your advanced searching skills.
Boolean Operators
A simple way to search more effectively is via Boolean operators.
The Boolean operators are not a Star Wars faction. (They sound like they could be though, right?). Boolean operators are, however, symbols and words you can use to narrow down your search.
Symbolic Booleans
The Boolean operator symbols are added to words themselves to alter how the search engine interprets them:
- The dash (-) excludes all results that include a search term you enter after it. E.g., -depression would remove all academic sources containing ‘depression’ in our search.
- Speech marks (“”) return results containing exact phrases only. E.g., “internet addiction” would only return results containing that exact phrase. Sources containing ‘internet’ or ‘addiction’ separately without the exact phrase would be excluded. Exact phrases are not case sensitive.
- The asterisk (*) will search for sources containing variations of a search term. E.g., internet addict* would lead Google Scholar to search for different words containing ‘addict’, such as addicts, addictions, etc.
- intitle: causes sources that contain the proceeding search term in the title to return. E.g., intitle:internet addiction will lead to results containing ‘internet addiction’ in the title to be displayed.
- Brackets () enable you to group keywords and control the order in which the terms will be searched. E.g., (internet addiction) depression will encourage Google Scholar to first search for sources containing ‘internet addiction’ and, from that sample, then look for articles containing depression.
Below is a screenshot of a few in action.
Word-Based Booleans
As well as taking the form of symbols, there are three Boolean operators that are words:
- AND returns results containing all your search terms. E.g., “internet addiction” AND loneliness supplies results containing ‘internet addiction’ and ‘loneliness’.
- OR provides sources containing at least one of your search terms. E.g., internet OR addiction supplies results containing at least one of ‘internet’ or ‘addiction’.
- NOT excludes search terms that follow it. E.g., internet addiction NOT anxiety supplies results containing ‘internet addiction’ together or ‘internet’ and ‘addiction’ separately but not with anxiety.
These operators are really important and can be combined with Boolean operator symbols to make very refined searches. Below is a screenshot of word-based Booleans in combination with symbolic Booleans.
The Advanced Search Interface
Booleans are very useful for Google Scholar research. However, in the search-refining toolbox, there is another implement we can use.
If you look to the top-left of the Google Scholar results page, there’s a hamburger icon.
Upon hitting this icon, you’ll be shown a menu. At the bottom of this menu, there’s a link to an advanced search tool.
Clicking this link takes you to an almighty beast: the advanced search filter.
Here, you’ll be shown several rows that contain ways to refine your search. The first five rows contain filtering options that are identical to the Boolean operators we’re already familiar with. For instance, the row ‘with the exact phrase’ = the speech marks (“”) Boolean symbol.
Date Ranges From the Advanced Search Interface
However, towards the bottom there are three rows that we haven’t covered the Booleans for. The first two aren’t very important. I don’t know about you, but I don’t particularly strive for results that come from a certain author or academic journal — I want as many good academic sources as I can get!
The third row, nonetheless, is incredibly helpful. It gives us the option to search for sources published in a date range. This means we can tell Google Scholar to search for up-to-date literature in just a few clicks.
Below is a demonstration of how the advanced search filter works.
Notice how the search bar is now filled with the Booleans corresponding to the advanced search rows we engaged with. This indicates that the advanced search filter is essentially Boolean operators for people who don’t want to learn how to use them.
Date Ranges on the Search Results Page
If you prefer the idea of using Booleans in your search as opposed to the advanced search filter, you may be wondering if you can still use the date range feature.
Lucky for you, there’s a solution!
To the left of the main search results page, there’s a sidebar menu.
If you click the ‘Custom range…’ toggle, you’ll be prompted to enter a date range. This mirrors what you do for the advanced search filter.
This truly highlights how spectacular Google Scholar is. For people who want an easy route to refined searches, there’s the advanced search filter. For people who want to use Booleans and only engage with the main search results page, Google Scholar makes it so all the features of advanced search can be utilised on the main search results page. Well done Anurag Acharya!
Google Scholar Research: Milking Your Best Searches Dry
With advanced searches now in your arsenal, you’ll be able to find academic sources that are really specific to your research projects.
But what if from just one relevant academic source you could find loads more in a just a few clicks?
Let’s say the following article was particularly useful for our research on Internet addiction.
Below this article’s title, there are two hyperlinks of interest to us: ‘Cited by’ and ‘Related articles’. We can utilise both these links to obtain more useful academic sources.
The ‘Cited by’ Database
When we hit ‘Cited by’, we’re delivered to a results page. This page contains all the academic sources that have cited this article for their research.
This page is special for three reasons:
- Because it takes us to sources that have cited our already relevant article, they are inevitably going to be about the topic of interest.
- Because it takes us to sources that have cited our already relevant article, they are inevitably going to be more recent than the original article, because you can’t cite something from the future.
- We can exercise our advanced searching skills within this repository of highly relevant literature.
Let’s focus on that third point. Within the ‘Cited by’ database, you’ll notice a tick box that says ‘Search within citing articles’. If you check this box, then you can search for key words that pertain only to the articles within the highly focused database.
Furthermore, all the usual Boolean operators apply and the advanced search filter can be interacted with, too. The screenshot below highlights the use of the Boolean ‘AND’ in the ‘Cited by’ database.
The takeaway from this all: if you find a scholarly source during your Google Scholar research that is really useful, dig deeper into it by sifting through the ‘Cited by’ database.
The ‘Related articles’ Database
As well as the ‘Cited by’ repository, you can use the ‘Related articles’ database to find other academic sources stemming from the original one you selected.
If you click the link to visit the ‘Related articles’ from a source on the main search page, you’ll see a repository that looks very similar to the ‘Cited by’ database.
However, you cannot search specifically within this database like you can by checking the tick box in the ‘Cited by’ database.
Nonetheless, if you find an article in the ‘Related articles’ database that’s relevant, nothing’s stopping you from accessing the other academic sources that have cited it by clicking the ‘Cited by’ link, or exploring similar articles to it by hitting the ‘Related articles’ link.
Hopefully this shows to you that you can go deep with Google Scholar. This can be done through the ‘Cited by’ database, the ‘Related articles’ repository, or both.
Bonus Section: Other Useful Features
Congratulations, you’re now a grandmaster in Google Scholar searching!
With the knowledge you now possess, you’ll never run out of academic sources and your arguments will be supported by proper science.
If you want to reach the final level of Google Scholar, however, you should be aware of two secret features. They’ll save you time and energy, and give you an advantage in your Google Scholar research.
Institution Integrations
Google Scholar doesn’t always provide access to free sources. If there’s a source you know is super relevant but it’s locked behind a paywall, then one solution is to search for it in your institution’s library or on the library’s website.
This is time-consuming, however, and it doesn’t always work as your institution may not provide access.
So, why don’t we circumvent these issues by getting Google Scholar to tell us which academic sources we can access via our institution?
To do this, click the hamburger icon in the top left of the main search page.
Then, hit ‘Settings’.
Next, go to ‘Library links’.
From here, you’ll see a search bar. Enter the name of your institution and check the boxes that pertain to your institution’s database.
If you then ‘Save’, you’ll sync Google Scholar with your institution. Now, if your institution can provide access to a source, it’ll say so on the right side of the main search page with the other quick access links.
Bookmarking
Sometimes, you’ll find a source that is so good that you wish to save it, perhaps for future assignments.
You could properly reference the source and save it in Word or as a note. But, Google Scholar has a built-in feature you can utilise to bookmark and save scholarly literature.
You’ll find this feature just below any source displayed by the search engine. It’s a little star that says ‘Save’.
When you hit this star, you’ll be shown a pop-up message. This message prompts you to save the source in your library.
You can save sources in specific groups via labels of your choosing. Hit ‘Create new’ and you can save the source in a collection of your choice.
Once you hit ‘Done’, if you then go to ‘My library’ (upper right of the search results page), you’ll see your saved sources and be able to access the labelled groups they belong to via the sidebar menu. If you label a source and don’t just save it straight to the library, you’ll notice a small grey tag next to the title of the source that contains the name of the group to which the source you’ve saved belongs.
Final Thoughts: The Ultimate Guide to Mastering Google Scholar Research
When you start university (or college), Wikipedia and classic Google are no longer your best friends. In fact, if you rely on them, you’ll get penalised. This is because the bar related to your evidence is raised. You need to find scientific sources that reinforce your statements like trained soldiers, as opposed to toy soldiers.
That’s where Google Scholar comes in. It is your gateway to robust evidence that won’t leave your examiners sighing in despair.
Mastering Google Scholar is therefore a significant factor that dictates your grades and credibility as a writer. If you fail to learn Google Scholar, and you’re basically slowing down your growth as a student.
Fortunately, this guide has provided you all the knowledge you need for effective Google Scholar research. Taking the advice and strategies it’s given you and implementing them into your projects and research going forward will yield fantastic results.
Take it from us: a brand based on the scientific principles underlying student development that uses Google Scholar daily for its own research, and to help other students with their research!
Whether you like it or not, academic sources are like Thanos: inevitable. Hence, why not make finding them easy by just studying this guide multiple times and learning Google Scholar?
