Google Scholar

About Google Scholar 

Google Scholar is a search engine for scholarly literature.  It is separate from Google Search, but its interface is similar.

When to use Google Scholar

Try using Google Scholar to find: 

• an overview of what has been written about a topic

• similar sources to an article you have found 

• a particular author’s other works

• other sources that have cited a particular article (this is also called citation chaining). 

While Google Scholar is simple to use, it can include information that is inaccurate or incorrect, such as: 

• articles in their draft stages 

• articles that have not yet been peer-reviewed 

• research of low quality or credibility.  

It is best to use Google Scholar as a gateway to other sources of information.

How to use Google Scholar

You can search Google Scholar using:  

• article titles

• keywords 

• authors

• journals 

• date range. 

You can also use Boolean operators (“and”, “or” and “not”) to narrow your search.  

Use citation chaining if you need more articles on a subject.

• use the “related articles” option to find similar articles to the one you’ve found. 

• check the article's reference list to find works cited by the author.

• click “cited by” to find resources that have cited the article you have found. 

Link Google Scholar to the Library 

Once you find an article in Google Scholar, it is good practice to verify it in another database to see if it has been peer reviewed or if the journal is reputable. 

Lean Library is a browser plugin that can be used to see which articles in Google Scholar are available through the Library. This is useful for finding full text articles or checking whether an article has been peer reviewed. 

Library Links is a search function within Google Scholar that limits results to full access articles in the Sydney University library. We recommend you use Library Links by following the below link. 

Google Scholar.