GETTING THE MOST FROM
Google Scholar has a massive number of references from scholarly journals in most academic disciplines. However, searching and managing results can seem overwhelming. This guide will show you some tricks to tame the beast.
1. Google Scholar itself is free. You don’t need to log in. However, if you click a link to download an article, you will need to log in at that point with your CDU credentials.
2. Use the link to Google Scholar on the Library’s home page. This link will likely have the Full Text and EndNote functions pre-set.
3. If you are not using the Library’s link or the Full Text and/or Endnote functions are not showing, here’s how to turn them on.
In the upper left corner of the Google Scholar screen, next to the GS icon, are three horizontal lines. Click on them. From the resulting menu, select “Settings.”
At the bottom of the resulting page is a section called “Bibliography Manager.” Select “Show links to import citations into” and select EndNote. Click Save.
Under the Settings menu at the left of the screen, click on “Library Links.” If Charles Drew University hasn’t already been selected, search for it in the search box and select it. Click Save.
4. Retrieving full text: Use the library’s link (Full Text @ CDU) or any of the free full text links in the right margin of the search results. While it is tempting to click on the title of the article in the search results, it is unlikely that you will be able to access the full text, even if the library subscribes.
5. Advanced Search: It is often the case that the GS search results contain way too many random articles. Using GS Advanced Search may help.
To turn on Advanced Search, from any GS search page, go back to the three horizontal lines and click on them. You will see Advanced Search listed. Click on it.
The advantage of this is that it allows you to search for phrases, authors, and journals. You can limit the date range of the articles.