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What is Google Scholar?
What areas of scholarly research are covered by Google Scholar?
How can I see 'Find It @ GSU' links in Google Scholar?
What does 'Cited by' mean?
Can I search within a specific journal or search for articles written by a particular author?
Why do some titles have links to abstracts and/or full text and others do not?
What is the difference between 'Library Search' and 'Web Search'? And when would I want to use these options?
Why am I being asked to pay to access a full text article?
I'm not finding the information I need. Where else can I search for online full text documents?
Where can I get more help?
What is Google Scholar?
Google Scholar is the newest offering from Google that searches for scholarly materials such as peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, preprints, abstracts and technical reports from broad areas of research. Google Scholar searches a variety of undisclosed academic publishers, professional societies, preprint repositories and universities, as well as scholarly articles available across the web. Much of the content is available in full text, while in some instances abstracts with links to pay-for document delivery services are displayed.
While we encourage you to try Google Scholar, keep in mind that this software is 'in Beta.' Beta status indicates that Google Scholar is still in development, and you may therefore encounter some inconsistencies or peculiarities. You may wish to supplement your research by searching some of the many other databases found on the Find Articles page.
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What areas of scholarly research are covered by Google Scholar?
Google Scholar searches a specific subset of Google's index and covers a wide range of academic content areas; however coverage appears to be strongest in science and technology, and weakest in the humanities. Just as with Google's standard Web Search, Google Scholar ranks and lists results according to how relevant they are to the search query. The most relevant references should theoretically appear at the top of the page.
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How can I see 'Find It @ GSU' links in Google Scholar?
If you are coming to Google Scholar from within the GSU network (anywhere on campus, or if you have already signed in through the University Library's proxy server), these links will automatically show up in Google Scholar search results.
If you are not coming from within the GSU network, you can still configure your Google Scholar Preferences to display Find It @ GSU links:
1) Go to Google Scholar.
2) Click on the Scholar Preferences link.
3) In the search box for Institutional Access, search for "Georgia State." Tick the check-box beside "Georgia State University," and then click "Save Preferences."
Perform a search in Google Scholar. "Full Text @ GSU" and/or "Find It @ GSU" links will show up in your search results. Click on one of these links, and you will be taken to the "Find It @ GSU" menu, which will provide you with options for accessing the item you are looking for.
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What does 'Cited by' mean?
Clicking the 'Cited by' link will display a list of articles and documents that have cited the document originally retrieved in the search. This makes it possible to uncover other documents that are related by topic or subject to the original document. However, Google Scholar only includes articles that are indexed within its database, and this is a much smaller subset of scholarly articles than found in some other GSU Library-subscribed databases. A database which includes citation-based searching, and which may yield more comprehensive results is
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Can I search within a specific journal or search for articles written by a particular author?
Yes! Use Google Scholar's Advanced Search to search by author, publication, and date. Increase the accuracy and effectiveness of Google Scholar searches by checking out Advanced Scholar Search Tips.
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Why do some titles have links to abstracts and/or full text and others do not?
Search results may include citations [CITATION], books [BOOK], PDFs [PDF] and PostScript documents [PS]. PDF and PostScript documents will have clickable title links that point to abstracts or full text, but citations and books will not.
Citations are items that have been extracted from the references, footnotes or bibliographies of documents indexed by Google Scholar. However, Google Scholar may not index the citations in its database, and therefore they do not have clickable links. Clicking on 'Web Search' will start a search for the citation using the standard Google search engine. Using the Libraries Find Articles page to locate a subject-specific or multidisciplinary database may produce more reliable results.
Books appear in search results when a document indexed by Google Scholar references a book. Google Scholar creates a book result, but doesn't link to the actual book. Clicking on a 'Find It @ GSU' link is the best way of determining whether or not GSU holds a copy of the book. If GSU does not hold a copy, GSU users may request a copy through Interlibrary Loan.
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What is the difference between 'Library Search' and 'Web Search'? And when would I want to use these options?
Clicking on 'Library Search' will start a search of OCLC WorldCat and try to locate the book in a local library. 'Find It @ GSU' links are the best way of determining whether or not GSU holds a copy of the book--and will allow GSU users to obtain the book through Interlibrary Loan if GSU does not hold a copy, so GSU users may never need to use 'Library Search." A 'Web Search' will start a search using the standard Google search engine, and will often lead to Amazon and other commercial sites where books may be purchased. You would want to use this if you were interested in purchasing the book--as opposed to borrowing it from GSU.
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Why am I being asked to pay to access a full text article?
Some of the title hyperlinks in Google Scholar will lead to full text documents contained within subscription-based databases which the University Library may not subscribe to. If the item is contained within an unsubscribed database, there may be an option to purchase the article. GSU students, faculty and staff do not need to pay for access to these items. GSU users should use the 'Full Text @ GSU' or 'Find It @ GSU' links to find a copy of the item. The options listed on the 'Find It @ GSU' menu that appears will help you obtain the item--either through a GSU subscription, in print at GSU, or through Interlibrary Loan.
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I'm not finding the information I need. Where else can I search for online full text documents?
Use the Find Articles from our home page to choose a database by subject. Listed below are some popular resources that provide full-text articles (requires off-campus authentication):
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Where can I get more help?
Having difficulty finding what you need? There are many ways for you to get help.
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