East Carolina University lIbrary – Uisng Google scholar
Advantages of Google Scholar
Advantages of using Google Scholar:
- Google Scholar is familiar and relatively simple to use, much like Google.
- Google Scholar allows users to search for a find a wide variety of materials including articles, books, “grey literature” like conference proceedings on a vast number of topics.
- Google Scholar allows for you to see articles related to the one that might interest you, how many times an article has been cited and by whom, and provides citations for articles in a number of styles.
- Google Scholar can display links to articles and books held through ECU Libraries. For more information, see Using Google Scholar from Home tab.
- Google Scholar allows you to save both citations and articles to read later.
Disadvantages of Using Google Scholar
Disadvantages of using Google Scholar:
- Google Scholar’s coverage is is wide-ranging but not comprehensive. It can be a research source, but should not be the only source you use.
- Google Scholar does not provide the criteria for what makes its results “scholarly”. Results are often vary in quality and it is up to the researcher to determine which of the results are suitable for their purposes.
- Google Scholar does not allow users to limit results to either peer reviewed or full text materials or by discipline.
- Google Scholar does not provide notice of when its materials are updated.
- Google Scholar’s citation tracker can be difficult to use and inaccurate.
Finding ECU Library Resources using Google Scholar
Google Scholar can be used to find East Carolina University (ECU) Library related material from either on campus or from a remote location. The only difference is that on the campus Google Scholar already knows to show results from the ECU Libraries, whereas from a remote location, you must select ECU Libraries and save it as a preference. For instrucitons on how to do so, please use the tabbed instructions in the center column.
Joyner arch image taken from Brent Hoard’s East Carolina University Album on Flickr
Seeing ECU Resources Through Google Scholar
Finding full-text resources from ECU Libraries through Google Scholar has never been easier. Just simply click the Google Scholar link off the the Joyner home page. To progress to the next step, please select the “Choosing Library Links” tab.
Search Strategies
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Google Scholar’s search tips page.
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Using Google Scholar and other Google resources for education
An in-depth video created by Google that demonstrates using Google Scholar in great depth.
Google Scholar
Other Google Services
Options in Google Scholar
Note that you can limit your results by type (Articles, Case Law), by date published, and also sort your results by either date or relevance to your search.
