How to Use Google Scholar & the HSU Library

The newest Google search tool, Google Scholar , indexes the full text of scholarly literature in a wide range of research areas and includes pointers to books, articles in peer-reviewed journals, preprints, and technical reports. If you find an article citation in Google Scholar without access to the full text, use the Library's Periodicals List or Citation Linker. For books, use the HSU Library Catalog to determine if the HSU Library owns a copy.

About Google Scholar

• Google Scholar indexes a subset of scholarly literature in all fields. Coverage appears to be strongest in science and technology, and for scholarship that is available online.
• The content of search results varies. Much full text is available, but links often lead only to abstracts or citations. Some duplicate and fragmentary entries appear, as well as variant editions of works (e.g. search results may include a preprint and postprint of a work, as well as the version published in a journal).
• Search results include links to cited references. This makes it possible to find articles and books related to the topic you initially searched, as well as works that cite a work that you searched for. As with Google Web Search, items with more citations from other highly-ranked sources appear at the top of result rankings.
• Google Scholar searches both open access scholarly sites (e.g. repositories and scholarly societies) as well as commercial publishers. It does not cover all such sites and publishers, however.

Making the most of Google Scholar and the HSU Library's research resources

• Many of the electronic resources the HSU Library provides to the campus community through paid subscriptions are searchable in Google Scholar. We also subscribe to other indexing services that may provide deeper and more tightly focused literature and citation searches in specific fields. These include Science Direct, LexisNexis Academic, and Academic Search Elite and OmniFile Full Text Mega, both of which cover a multitude of publications across disciplines.
• When you are searching on a computer that is connected directly to the HSU network (e.g. in a dorm room or office) you may be able to follow Google Scholar links to the full text of resources that are part of library subscriptions.
• When connecting to Google Scholar from an off campus computer that is not on the HSU network, this same full text may not be accessible. Instead, Google Scholar's links may lead you to an offer to purchase an article or report from the company that is providing it. You might also be directed towards a free variant edition on another website, but that might not be the same content as the version in a scholarly publication.
• In order to determine if the HSU Library provides free fulltext for these items, you will need to search the Periodicals List.

[Based on A First Look at Google Scholar: What's included and what's not]