1. Google Scholar : Google for research
Wouter Gerritsma, February 2014
2. Contents
General Google syntax
Google Scholar specifics
Advanced Search & Metadata quality
Stemming, synonyms, UK/US spelling
Results ranking (SERP)
● Citing
Recent literature
Open Access Versions
Alerts
My Library, My Citations
Metrics
GS quality
GS results in Google
3. General Google syntax
Use ["phrase searching"]
Search for file type ["land degradation" ext:pdf]
Search for specific domains ["land ownership" site:.ac.uk]
Search in titles [allintitle:anatomy plants water]
Search with OR ["carbon dioxide" OR CO2]
Exclude terms ["nutrient cycling" –nitrogen]
Combine ["carbon dioxide" OR CO2 intitle:"nutrient
cycling" ext:pdf site:.edu]
More tips:Google better with Google
4. What you can't do
Using numerical ranges
["Theobroma cacao" 2013...2014]
Use the year facet instead
5. Adjust the settings
Search results
● Number of results : 20 max
● Open in a new window
Languages
● Also in available in Dutch
Library links
● Choose link resolver of your University
8. Stemming, synonyms
Inclusion of word variants is unclear. (Google Scholar has
a smaller dictionary than Google.com)
No verbatim search, but phrases do work! ["behaviour"]
Search explicitly for word variants still works
[~behaviour]
Parentheses () do not work in Google (Scholar)!
9. Search engine results page (SERP)
Ranking influenced by citations (older articles on top!)
OA version
Save to My library
Reformat reference
Export to reference
software
Other free versions
(useful with cite)
Explore the
subject
10. Searching for recent literature!
Use publication years
● In the advanced search
● Or use the facets in search result
11. Alerts galore
For searching GS strings must be kept under
256 characters.
For alerts GS strings must be kept under 100
characters
My updates : Alerts based on the topics of
your publications (my Citations)
12. My Citations & My Library
My Citations
● Your personal profile page, concentrating on
publication lists and citations.
● Identifies you co-author network
My library
● Your saved articles
● Also lists all your references "cited by me"
● No plugin for word processors (yet)
13. Google Scholar quality
Coverage is still unclear
● Coverage is constantly growing, probably the most
comprehensive scholarly literature database (Harzing,
2014. Scientometrics 98 (1): 565-575. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11192-013-0975-y)
● Not all OA repositories are (fully) indexed
(https://atmire.com/website/?q=content/google-scholar-and-dspace)
● Concentrates on scientific articles, share of books is
growing, Grey Lit from repositories partially
included
For systematic reviews Pubmed alone is sufficient,
complementary searches in GS and other indexes are a
necessity (Bramer, et al. 2013. Systematic Reviews 2 (1): 115. http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/2046-4053-2-115)
Metadata sometimes problematic, the version function
under the snippet helps
14. Google Scholar and Google
Google and Google Scholar are separate indexes!
Google Scholar results are pushed in Google when
searching for scientific subjects
● Make use of that reminder!
● Not the other way around
Some repositories are covered in Google but not in
Google Scholar
15. Thank you!
On the Web:
@wowter
wowter.net
http://www.slideshare.net/Wowter/google-scholar-google-for-research
http://tinyurl.com/7r67fmm