Subject Guides: Google Scholar: Home

What is Google Scholar?

Google Scholar is a search engine that provides a simple way to broadly search for scholarly information; helping to find relevant work across the world of scholarly research and literature.

What you can expect to find using Google Scholar: Some examples include conference papers, theses and dissertations, academic books, technical reports, journal articles and abstracts.

Explore the information below or select the tabs above for more detailed information.

Getting Started

Follow the instructions in our tutorial to start searching with Google Scholar

Pros

Directly link to full text articles in NIC databases
Access different types of material in a single search
Novice researchers can familiarize themselves with research info
Find "gray literature" and obscure references
Connect journal titles/authors with subjects of interest
There is no advertising

Cons

There is no way to determine how comprehensive or up-to-date the results are
Results are not easily downloaded or email-friendly (no bibliographic manager)
When compared to discipline-specific library databases the results are unreliable
There is no way to sort by subject
There is no option to limit results to peer-reviewed sources

How is Google Scholar Different?

Google Scholar provides scholarly results and includes direct links to NIC materials. Google provides links to popular websites and advertisements.

Try It!

Use the search box below to explore