Google Scholar features material traditional search engines do not index, including books, articles, and more. Google Scholar is currently in a beta version. Google continues to modify the algorithm it uses to rank the results and it may change over time.
Let's try a search. Let's search "cognitive dissonance". You can see most of our results are articles & books.
Google Scholar has many strengths. You can use it to find seminal authors as the results are ranked by relevance and how often the work was "cited by" other authors. Use the "cited by" link to find works that cite that article or book. And in the spirit of Google, Google Scholar is easy to use.
Despite the many strengths, Google Scholar does have its weaknesses. Unknown coverage, in other words, Google will not tell exactly which sources are covered. Uneven coverage in social sciences and other disciplines. There's better coverage in the hard sciences & technology in which their publications are more open. As mentioned earlier, ranking of results is under development. Outdated results may be at the top. There are few options to limit or narrow search results. Due to copyright restrictions, full text is often not available.
You can access Google Scholar in 2 ways. Go directly to scholar.google.com. Or go to Google.com and choose Scholar from the drop down menu labeled "more."
A really cool feature of Google Scholar is the option to link to full text within the Capella Library. Just set your Scholar Preferences to display "Full Text @ Capella".
In the Library Links search box type Capella and click Find Library. Next check the box in front of Capella University. And scroll up to save your preferences.
Now that our Scholar Preferences are set, let's try our search again. Again let's try searching "cognitive dissonance". Now our results are displaying which articles are available in Full Text in the Capella Library. To access the full text, just click on the Full Text @Capella link. The Journal Locator page will appear. Click on either the link to the article, journal, or database. Now we're viewing the full text of the article from our ProQuest Medical Library database.
Google Scholar also has an Advanced Search option which allows you to have more control over your search. Advanced Scholar search has some of the same options you'll find in the library databases. Such as search with all keywords, an exact phrase or by author, journal title or publication date. You also have the option to search your keywords in the entire text of the article or just the title.
You have 2 options if you find Google Scholar materials not available in the Capella Library. You can find it at a library local to you Or use our Interlibrary Loan service.
To find in a local library, just go to www.worldcat.org and search using the journal or book title. Then WorldCat allows you to input your zip code to find libraries local to you that carry the item. A list of libraries, sorted by distance, will appear. Check with the library about usage or borrowing policies.
The 2nd option is to request the item through Interlibrary Loan. Interlibrary Loan is a free service for Capella Learners. To find out more, or place a request, just click on the Interlibrary Loan link located on the Library Homepage.
Let's Review. Google Scholar is a cool tool. It allows you to search for materials traditional search engines do not index, including books & articles. It also can help you find seminal authors and trace the research using the "cited by" link. Google is not perfect. There is uneven coverage, ranking of results is still under development, and full text is often not available. A neat feature of Google scholar is the ability to link to full text within the Capella Library. REMEMBER - while Google Scholar is a great tool to have in your research arsenal, due to Google Scholar's limitations, it does NOT replace searches in the Capella Library databases.
This concludes the Google Scholar Tutorial. A handout accompanies this tutorial, just click the link to open. Remember, when you have questions - Ask a Librarian!