LibGuides: Google Scholar: Guide

Google Scholar can be a useful resource for initial research and for locating scholarly articles. This guide provides information and helpful advice on using Google Scholar in academic research.

Google Scholar This link opens in a new window
Contains citations to papers, books, articles, patents, and other publications. A limited amount of full-text resources are available through Google Scholar.

Connecting to library resources

Google Scholar doesn't always provide access to full-text resources. Reliable research articles can be expensive. While Google Scholar can help you identify an article, you might be asked to pay to read that article. (This is one benefit of using the library rather than relying on internet searching, by the way!)

Google Scholar can, however, be linked to your MSOE ID, allowing you to locate and then access content included in the library's subscriptions. Follow these instructions to set up this option.

When you are logged into your personal Google account, select Settings in the Google Scholar Menu

Then select Library Links and search for Milwaukee School of Engineering. Then select the option to search Milwaukee School of Engineering – Resources @ MSOE. (Simply searching for "MSOE" will not work. Search for "Milwaukee School of Engineering".)

Once you have set up this option, a Resources @ MSOE link will appear in your search results for resources included in library subscriptions.

Clicking on the Resources @ MSOE link will allow you to access the resource through the library's database subscriptions. If you are off-campus you will first be prompted to sign into MSOE's Single Sign-On (SSO) system.

Google Scholar Considerations

You can certainly find useful resources searching in Google Scholar, but it is important to understand how to use it in research and why it should not be your only research stop.

Here are a few points to keep in mind:

Good Information is Usually Not Available for Free – Most intellectual content in journal articles, conference proceedings and books is protected by copyright law and is therefore typically not available for free. Publishers and information creators often require that users pay a fee for individual articles or purchase subscriptions or memberships in order to access content.

Not everything is on the Internet! – If you rely on the internet for all your research, you are at best only searching about a quarter of all information produced.

The Web can be a "Noisy" Untrustworthy Place – Many websites pay for the privilege to be rated higher or more relevant in search results. This means that a website with better content might not show up on your first page of results. Google and other search engines customize your search results based on your activity on the web. This means that your results might not include all views on a topic.

For scholarly, academic, or class-related research, a combination of library and web resources usually produces the best results.

Learn more about Google Scholar

The Benefits and Pitfalls of Google Scholar
Google Scholar (GS) is an important tool that faculty, administrators, and external reviewers use to evaluate the scholarly impact of candidates for jobs, tenure, and promotion. This article highlights both the benefits of GS—including the reliability and consistency of its citation counts and its platform for disseminating scholarship and facilitating networking—and its pitfalls.
Google Scholar: the pros and the cons
The Google Scholar search engine, which debuted in November 2004, is reviewed.
The Use of Google Scholar for Research and Research Dissemination The Use of Google Scholar for Research and Research Dissemination
A discussion of the benefits that Google Scholar can provide in the preparation of the literature review, and ways to use Google Scholar for the dissemination of research.