LibGuides: InfoSkills for Social and Behavioral Sciences: Google Scholar vs. library databases

Google Scholar vs. library databases

Google Scholar		Library databases
+	Easy to use because it has a simple, clean interface and requires no special search skills.	–	Not so easy to use because they require knowledge of advanced search techniques.
+	Helpful for beginners searching for sources on an unfamiliar topic because it searches broadly and ranks results by citations, making it easier to find important research.	–	Less helpful for beginners searching for a new topic due to complex search rules and limited coverage, making it harder to quickly find relevant research.
–	Basic search functionality. Google Scholar often returns a massive number of results, but with few effective filtering options, resulting in limited control over your searches.	+	Extensive search functionality. Databases return a manageable number of results for similar searches. Their many advanced filter options offer maximum control over your searches.
–	Compiled by a web crawler that searches content available on the surface web – that is, publicly accessible websites and sources.	+	Compiled by information professionals who carefully select and organize high-quality content from both the surface web and the deep web.
+	Effective for finding grey literature.	–	Library databases often focus on traditionally published materials, not grey literature.
–	No helpful details about the publications (e.g., subject-related terms such as subjects, descriptors or keywords) are provided.	+	Additional details are provided for each publication (e.g., database-specific terms such as subjects, descriptors, or keywords, which are assigned by subject experts).
–	Google Scholar's crawlers can be fooled, resulting in unreliable materials being indexed (e.g., articles from predatory journals).	+	Only credible materials are indexed, as subject experts review the content who are not easily misled.