Is it Acceptable to use Google Scholar Papers as Sources in a Thesis or Dissertation?
Google Scholar is a database of indexed peer reviewed and other articles and papers, similar in many ways to the scholarly databases you might search at an academic or public library.
The primary difference is in how the databases organize search and retrieval, with Scholar using the more familiar Google search interface and most scholarly database engines using advanced search engines and controlled vocabulary lists.
Articles that are paywalled and returned by Scholar will still require you to log into an Academic or Public library that maintains a subscription to a source that will provide access to the paywalled article. or you can then go to your academic or public library source to retrieve the article.
In fact, if you are logged into your institution when using Scholar, you may be able to directly access your library’s digital copy of the article or request inter-library loan. Scholar tends to provide easy access to non-paywalled articles, in my experience, and for quick look-ups and first-pass searching, it is a good option.
However if you are writing a serious paper such as a thesis or dissertation, you will need to do a much deeper dive into the available literature than Scholar alone can provide.
Source : Bruce Fulton (PhD, Associate Professor Emeritus)
Is it Acceptable to use Google Scholar Papers as Sources in a Thesis or Dissertation?
