InfoSkills for Social and Behavioral Sciences

Below are some tips for using Google Scholar more effectively.

Use double quotation marks for exact phrases 

Like in Google and Google Books, use quotation marks ➊ to search for exact phrases. 

Use the Advanced search

Google Scholar has an advanced search mode to enable more precise searching. To go to the Advanced search page click on the hamburger icon in the upper left corner ➋ of the Google Scholar search page.

Additional functionalities of the Advanced Search page include:

• determining how exactly Google Scholar should search -- 
  • with all of the words;
  • with the exact phrase;
  • with at least one of the words;
  • without the words.
• determining where your search terms should be searched (anywhere in the article [default] or in the article title); 
• searching by author or journal title;
• limiting by year or date range.

Use the date filter options 

Your results are ranked by relevance, with frequently cited items closer to the top of the results list. You'll find, however, that your results are not very recent. Use the 'Since year' filters in the left sidebar to see more recent articles that haven't had time to be cited much. For example, click on 'Since 2017' ❸ to show only items published since 2017, sorted by relevance. 

Finding full text  

Does clicking on the title link not lead you to the full text of the item? Try the link(s) Google Scholar provides. 

1. The 'Fulltext via TiUfinder' link (on the right-hand side of the item) should ALWAYS be your first choice. This link will lead you to the final (traditionally published) version of the article, available via the TiU library.  

2. Does the TiUfinder link not bring you to the full text, or is the link not displayed at all? Try other links that are shown on the right-hand side of the item. The ones labeled [PDF] or [HTML] ❹ will help you find the article's full text in an open access journal or in a publicly available place: an institutional repository, or any other kind of digital archive. 

3. No TiUfinder, [PDF] or [HTML] links visible? Click 'All versions' ➎ to check out the alternative documents Google Scholar has found.