Google & Google Scholar
Tips for Searching the Web
When you use a search engine such as Google to find information on a topic, it is best not to write or paste a whole sentence or question into the search box.
You will find better results if you search for keywords which are relevant to your search topic.
If you are unsure about how to identify useful keywords for your search topic, go back to the section on Searching.
When studying at university, Google and Google Books should not be you first choice for finding academic literature. The Literature section of this course outlines how to access academic resources that you should use for study.
How can I make my Google searches more effective?
Go back and start by look again at the advice in Searching.
- Next this video by Google on simple search tips
- Then see the advice on the Google help pages – How to search on Google.
- To improve your searches, look at this video by Google on filtering and refining your search results
- Then see the advice on refining your web searches on the Google Help page.
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In addition to its web search, Google also has a dedicated search engine for academic sources: Google Scholar
You can use Google Scholar to find information about research papers, scholarly journal articles, books and theses. Not all publishers allow Google Scholar to search their content, so your search results may not show you all existing research literature on your topic.
Google Scholar search results can include brief information about research articles, abstracts and sometimes even links to entire papers. However, you may be asked to pay to read papers. If you have a library membership, check if your library holds the paper or can obtain it for you.
Google Scholar results usually exclude shorter articles, book reviews, announcements, letters and untitled documents.
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A useful Google content filter is Books – if it is not displayed below the search box, you can usually find it by clicking on More. It will show you results from Google Books which searches across the content of millions of digitized books. It is a useful tool for helping you find relevant books on your research topic.
Your Google Books search results may be limited to basic book publication details or you may see a brief preview or a few sample chapters from a book. Sometimes you may even be able to read an entire book online. Many of the books which are free to read from beginning to end are older books which are no longer in copyright.
Even if you cannot read an entire book which looks relevant for your research topic, you can usually find details such as the author’s name and the book title which will allow you to check if the book is available from your library.
For more information see the Use Google Books help pages
Now move to the next page Wikipedia
