The Google Scholar is a service aimed specifically at researchers, scientists and professionals from the academic sector, and brings numerous research materials and consultation for those who need to quote a previous job, or a base for a new search.
The site may seem rather complex for non-academics, but it brings excellent filtering options to those who know what they are looking for, and how to do it.
What is Google Scholar?
Google Scholar is a gigantic repository, aimed at aggregating and cataloging scientific content, among books, articles, research, theses and publications in the area, so that a researcher, a graduate or a scientist can find everything they need to facilitate a dissertation, or to conduct a new search.
Google Scholar works similarly to the traditional search engine, and will return the search results ordered in the same way: according to the relevance of each article or publication. It takes into account the author of the book or article, the publication (the most renowned ones get highlighted), and the frequency with which it is cited in other researches (something similar to the logic of Google backlinks).
The system has extra features, such as My Library, where you can store your posts, or your favorite searches, and My Quotations, which tracks how many times your work has been cited in other researchers’ articles.
How does Google Scholar work?
Google Scholar catalogs and makes searchable open shared articles (those protected by paywall not included), and books, theses, and others already stored on Google Books, your own magazine for general publications.
In short, almost any non-copyrighted academic content is available at a click away.
Using Google Scholar
- Visit the Google Scholar site;
- Enter a subject or topic that is the reason for your search;
- Click the Search button.
At first, you will receive the results ordered by relevance, but you can modify them with the left adjustments. You can limit the search to a specific date range, sort the results by date of publication, include citations and patents in the results.
Using Advanced Google Scholar Search
- Visit the Google Scholar site;
- Click the Menu button in the left corner of the screen (the three parallel lines);
- Click Advanced Search.
In this window, you can specify searches for articles or books that contain specific words, with an exact phrase, or that can not in any way include certain expressions. It is also possible to display articles from a particular author, published in a specific journal or journals, or determine a period of time.
After entering the data, click the Search button. The search will focus on the parameters you’ve specified, and should bring more direct results.
Using My Library
The My Library option will save any articles and books you want to see later. Here’s how:
- After performing a search, click the star below the result you want to save;
- Click the Menu button, and then My Library;
- Google Scholar will display the articles and books you’ve saved;
- To find a specific article within My library, use the search bar;
- To remove an item from the library, check the box next to it, and click the Trash button below the search bar;
- To download an article or book for your computer, check the box and click the Download button next to the Recycle Bin button.
How to use My Quotations
The My quote is a unique resource for academic authors, since the data is checked. With it, you will be informed whenever a research, book or article of yours is quoted in a new thesis, dissertation or etc.
- Click the Menu button, and then Profile;
- Fill in your profile with your academic data;
- Register an email linked to an institution (required);
- Confirm the information.
Once registered, the next step is to register your publications, so that Google Scholar indexes them. Thus, it is easy to find who quoted it in new articles.