Skip to Main Content

Google Scholar

A how-to guide on searching Google Scholar effectively.

Finding Google Scholar's Advanced Search

In the top left hand corner of the screen you will see a hamburger menu. Click the drop down feature and select Advanced Search. 

A new search box will appear where you can input specific instructions/ information. 

Advanced Search Breakdown:

  • With all of the words: This is the default search. This feature takes all terms in the search field and gives you results that include all of the terms. This narrows your results.  
  • With the exact phrase: Will only retrieve results that contain that exact phrase in the order it appears. This narrows results. 
  • With at least one of the words: This field returns results that have at least one term (if not all of them) included in a paper to your result list. Not all words may be found in one article. This expands your results pool. 
  • Without Words: This search box will reject any results that have the specific term(s) included in the article. Use this feature carefully! You may miss out on important info because a term you did not want was included with items you DID want. For example: You are researching adult diabetes treatments and do not want articles that focus on children. If you use this feature - any article that had children and adults included will not show up - even if everything else is relevant to you. This narrows your results. 
  • Where my words occur: This gives you two options. You can find the terms ANYWHERE in the article OR you can just search for your terms within the title of an article. A title only search will limit your results greatly. Anywhere will narrow the results less. 
  • Return articles authored by: Searches for a specific author. Narrows results.
  • Return articles published in: Searches a specific journal or other publication. Narrows results. 
  • Return articles dated between: Sets a specific date range that articles must be published within in order to show up in the results field. Narrows results. 

Jump to:

Help me:

If you have suggestions for how to make this page better, please contact Elizabeth Jerow, Library Director (jerow@msoe.edu).