InfoSkills for Social and Behavioral Sciences

These tips will help you use Google Scholar effectively.

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.

Google Scholar often links to articles on commercial publishers’ websites, where you might be asked to pay high fees for full access. Don’t pay! Instead, start by connecting Google Scholar to the TiU library – instructions are provided in the previous subsection. If the library has access, you can open the article directly from the Google Scholar results page by clicking on the "Fulltext via TiUfinder" link next to the search result.

Assuming Google Scholar is connected to the TiU library: here’s how to proceed if you want to access an article and clicking on the title link doesn’t take you to the free full text.

1. The "Fulltext via TiUfinder" link on the right side of the item should always be your first option. It directs you to the final, published version of the article through the TiU library. Remember, you must connect Google Scholar to the TiU library to see the TiUfinder link. Instructions are provided in the previous subsection.
2. If the TiUfinder link is missing or doesn’t lead to the full text, try other links on the right side of the item. Links labeled [PDF] or [HTML] ❹ often provide access to the article in open access journals, institutional repositories, or other digital archives. 
3. If you don’t see the TiUfinder, [PDF], or [HTML] links, click "All versions" ➎ to explore alternative versions of the document that Google Scholar has found.

Interlibrary Loan service. While there's a small fee for students, it’s significantly lower than the amount charged by the publisher.