[Private] SBM Research Postgraduates (RPG) Guide: 1. Introduction

About Google Scholar ...

Google Scholar is a freely accessible web search engine. It looks like Google Web Search but searches only for scholarly materials, such as peer-reviewed articles, preprints, theses, books, abstracts and court opinions, coming from a wide variety of sources, including: academic publishers, professional societies, online repositories, universities, and other websites.

Google Scholar offers 2 search interfaces: Basic Search and Advanced Search. To perform a Basic Search, simply enter keywords and phrases (put phrases inside quotation marks) in the single search box. To perform an advanced search, go to Setting > Advanced Search page where you can specify keywords, phrases, authors, publications, dates, subject areas, etc. using the given options.

Google Scholar is a great tool to find scholarly resources. Having said that, it has its limitations, such as:

• Lack of controlled vocabulary.
• Insufficient limiting features and search options.
• Scope of coverage is uncertain.
• The timeliness of the information is uncertain/may not be provided.

We recommend using Google Scholar to supplement your searches using the Library's discovery tools and subscription databases.

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