5.3: Google Scholar

Library Research and Information Literacy 2e · LibreTexts

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    From LibreTexts, under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, as the source states it; its equations are written in TeX, which the PDF shows typeset. This page at LibreTexts.

    Google Scholar is a more targeted Google search engine designed to search scholarly literature - articles, books, abstracts, legal opinions, and dissertations and theses. Only resources published by academic publishers, professional associations, colleges and universities, and other online repositories are searched.

    Screenshot of a Google Scholar search for addiction teenagers intitle:"social media"

    Figure 5.3.1 (CC BY-NC 4.0; Clackamas Community College Library)

    • Pro: Easy searching of a huge amount of information – it’s Google! All of the usual Google search features that you just learned about are available.
    • Con: Free full text isn’t always available immediately.

    Get article full text

    A word of caution: don't pay for articles from the Internet. Google Scholar will help you find interesting articles and to get the full text, Google Scholar will link you to the publishers' websites. Depending on the publisher's terms for sharing that article, you will hit a paywall and be asked to sign in to the publisher's website. Your Los Rios username and password will not work here. When logging in doesn't work, it will redirect you to a pay-per-view screen, charging anywhere from $20 to $3,000 ($3,000 is my personal record for highest fee requested for one article view from a vendor) to read it. Don't pay it. Instead, copy and paste the article title into SCC Library's OneSearch and see if you can access it free from us. If the full text is not available through the SCC Library, you have the option to order it for free through Interlibrary Loan.

    Cite resources

    Get premade MLA and APA citations from Google Scholar.

    1. Select the " icon below an article or book title.
    2. Copy and paste the MLA or APA citation.
    3. Proofread and edit the citation as needed.

    Screenshot of a Google Scholar search result with an arrow pointing to the cite button

    Figure 5.3.2 (CC BY-NC 4.0; Clackamas Community College Library)

    Evaluate source credibility

    Use Google’s Cited by function to find who has used this item in their own scholarly research. The higher the Cited by number, the more trusted and widely-known the resource (but newer items will have fewer cites, because they’re new). Bonus: selecting this link will find related, recent resources on your topic.

    Screenshot of a Google Scholar search result with an arrow pointing to the cited by button

    Figure 5.3.3 (CC BY-NC 4.0; Clackamas Community College Library)

    This page was adapted from Google Scholar by Clackamas Community College Library, used under CC BY-NC 4.0.

    This page titled 5.3: Google Scholar was last modified on Sat, 03 Oct 2026 20:29:25 GMT and is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Kari Wergeland.