InfoSkills for Humanities and Digital Sciences

Use these tips to get the most out of Google Scholar:

Use double quotation marks for exact phrases 

As with Google and Google Books, you can use quotation marks ➊ to search for exact phrases – adjacent words – such as "academic performance." 

Use the Advanced search

Google Scholar offers an advanced search that helps you perform more focused searches. To access Google Scholar's advanced search features, click on the three horizontal lines located in the top left corner of the screen. Then, select the "Advanced search" link ➋. A box will appear with several options that allow you to refine your search.

Extra options available in Advanced Search

• Choosing how Google Scholar conducts your search: 
  • with all of the words
  • with the exact phrase
  • with at least one of the words
  • without the words
• Choosing where your search terms are applied – either anywhere in the article (the default setting) or specifically within the article title
• Searching by author or journal
• Limiting your search by year or date range

Use the date filter options 

Your results are ranked by relevance, with frequently cited articles appearing near the top. However, these results may not be very recent. To find newer articles that haven’t had time to accumulate citations, use the "Since year" filters in the left sidebar. For example, select "Since 2025" ❸ to display only items published from 2025 onward, still sorted by relevance.