{"id":2125,"date":"2017-02-20T21:06:28","date_gmt":"2017-02-20T21:06:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.atu.edu\/library\/?p=2125"},"modified":"2017-02-20T23:29:12","modified_gmt":"2017-02-20T23:29:12","slug":"google-scholar-and-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.atu.edu\/library\/2017\/02\/20\/google-scholar-and-you\/","title":{"rendered":"Google Scholar and You"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you are a student at Arkansas Tech University, you may have experimented with Google Scholar<\/a><\/strong>.\u00a0 Maybe you heard about it from your friends or tried it once at a party.\u00a0 Maybe you saw results for \u201cscholarly articles\u201d within a regular Google result and decided to click on it, just to see what it was like.<\/p>\n

\"screen<\/a><\/p>\n

This gateway drug of academic resources can appear like harmless fun\u2014a way to quickly find scholarly journal articles in the same way you can find chicken tikka masala recipes and advice for disobedient cats.\u00a0 But you may not be aware of the pro\u2019s and con\u2019s of this addictive source of scholarly research.\u00a0 Let the Ross Pendergraft library help you get your facts straight about Google Scholar.<\/p>\n

\"skillet<\/a><\/p>\n

PRO\u2019S<\/h3>\n
    \n
  1. Size:<\/strong> The exact number and sources for Google Scholar indexing is unknown, but one study concluded that it indexes over 160 million documents\u00a01<\/sup>.\u00a0 This makes it one of the largest academic databases around.\u00a0 Another study estimated that Google Scholar covers about 87% of all scholarly documents accessible on the web in English\u00a02<\/sup>. \u00a0For most academic resource\u00a0searching, Google Scholar can make a quick, one-stop research trip.<\/li>\n
  2. Ease of Use:<\/strong> If you are\u00a0unsure where to go to find scholarly articles, then Google Scholar makes a lot of sense. It covers multiple disciplines such as science, literature, nursing, behavioral sciences, and more. Finding Google Scholar is as simple as Googling it.\u00a0 Searching is free and includes no login restrictions.\u00a0 \u00a0One search box makes the interface simple to use.\u00a0 Advanced search, if needed, is also simple. \u00a0Just click on the arrow in the search box, and another window allows you to search by author, words in the title, and date-ranges.<\/li>\n
  3. \"another<\/a> \"advanced<\/a>Connects to ATU Library:<\/strong> Google Scholar enables you to select a \u2018home\u2019 library to connect resources you find in Google Scholar with full-text access through the Ross Pendergraft Library. In Google Scholar, open Settings,<\/strong> and click on Library Links<\/strong>. In the search box, type in \u201cATU\u201d or \u201cRoss Pendergraft Library\u201d or \u201cTech\u201d.\u00a0 Click the checkbox and save:<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    \"Screenshot<\/a><\/p>\n

    If the articles within your search results are available in full-text at the Ross Pendergraft Library, you will see a link on the right for \u201cFind it At Tech\u201d.<\/p>\n

    \"screenshot<\/a><\/p>\n

    CON\u2019S<\/h3>\n
      \n
    1. No \u201cPeer-Reviewed\u201d Button<\/strong>: Most of the databases you find through the library (such as Find It<\/a>, Academic Search Complete<\/a>, PsycINFO<\/a>, ERIC<\/a>, etc.<\/a><\/strong>) include the ability to narrow results by peer-reviewed articles.\u00a0 This is important to help you drill down to original research that meets the highest of academic standards.\u00a0 While much of Google Scholar contains peer reviewed articles, a lot of it can be conference proceedings, unpublished scholarly articles, master\u2019s theses, legal summaries, blog posts, and book citations.\u00a0 So how do you separate the peer-reviewed articles from non-peer-reviewed articles?\u00a0 There\u2019s no really easy way, unless you are familiar with the publications. \u00a0You can also copy and paste the article title in our Find It<\/a><\/strong> database, then filter by the Peer-Review buttons there. \u00a0But if you have to go through all that, why not just start from Find It <\/a><\/strong>in the first place?<\/li>\n
    2. \"screenshot<\/a>Not Everything You Find is Free<\/strong>: While Google Scholar can index a lot of content, much of it is only available via the publisher for purchase. The title links (left-side) will lead you to the publisher website while the links on the right, if available, will lead you to the free PDF available at open-access sites like Research Gate or through the library\u2019s site through “Find it at Tech”. \u00a0If you click on the title-level links, the publisher\u2019s website will offer a PDF download for a price, probably between $30-$35.\u00a0 NEVER PAY!<\/strong>\u00a0 If you are a student at Arkansas Tech and the article is not available for immediate download in our Find It database, use the Interlibrary Loan service <\/a><\/strong>to quickly obtain the article from another library.\u00a0 No purchase necessary.<\/li>\n
    3. \"\"<\/a>Limited Advanced Searching and Inaccuracy:<\/strong> Sure, you can search by words in author and words in the title, but you cannot search or limit results by more sophisticated means like subject searching. \u00a0You also can’t limit results to available full-text. The databases in the library, however, offer a variety of tools to help narrow down or make your searches more efficient and precise. \u00a0Library databases have indexing done by professional human beings who can assign controlled subject terms and provide quality control.\u00a0 Google Scholar uses web crawlers to extract data from the publisher websites, and sometimes this data is either\u00a0incorrect<\/a>, attributed to the wrong author<\/a><\/strong>, or completely false<\/a><\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Ultimately, Google Scholar can be useful as a source of scholarly information, but it does have its drawbacks.\u00a0 The resources available at the library website like Find It<\/a><\/strong> can be your best bet for accessing full-text, peer-reviewed resources available to you as a tuition-paying student.<\/p>\n

      Craving more information about Google Scholar and scholarly articles? \u00a0Contact your research dealers and knowledge pushers at askalibrarian@atu.edu<\/a><\/strong>.\u00a0 Ask your librarian if Google Scholar is right for you.<\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n

      1<\/sup>Ordu\u00f1a-Malea, E.; Ayll\u00f3n, J.M.; Mart\u00edn-Mart\u00edn, A.; Delgado L\u00f3pez-C\u00f3zar, E. (2014). About the size of Google Scholar: Playing the numbers. EC3 Working Papers, 18<\/em>(23). Retrieved from: https:\/\/arxiv.org\/abs\/1407.6239<\/a><\/p>\n

      2<\/sup>Khabsa, M., Giles, C.L. (2014). The number of scholarly documents on the public web. PLOS ONE, 9<\/em>(5), 1-6. doi: 10.1371\/journal.pone.0093949<\/a><\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      If you are a student at Arkansas Tech University, you may have experimented with Google Scholar.\u00a0 Maybe you heard about it from your friends or tried it once at a party.\u00a0 Maybe you saw results for \u201cscholarly articles\u201d within a regular Google result and decided to click on it, just to see what it was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[51,5,69],"class_list":["post-2125","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-library","tag-find-it","tag-general","tag-google-scholar","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3lPyb-yh","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.atu.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2125","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.atu.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.atu.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.atu.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.atu.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2125"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.atu.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2125\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2151,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.atu.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2125\/revisions\/2151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.atu.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.atu.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.atu.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}