Using Google Scholar

Advanced Search

When using Google Scholar, you can further narrow your search by using the advanced search. This is located on the right side of the search box. Use these features to help narrow your search results.

Filters

After performing your search, your results will appear. On the left hand side, you will notice that there are filters. This is similar to what happens when you search in DragonQuest.
 

The automatic setting is to filter for articles and books, but you can also filter by case law. If you use the library function, you can also filter just items you've saved to your library.

Similar to DragonQuest, you can filter by a date range as well or change the sorting of your search results. These will be automatically set at any time and relevancy.

On the filter side, you will also notice one of the Google Scholar tools to set up an alert. This may be good for any big projects or a field you are specifically interested in following.

 

Want to see it in action? Try this video!

To get less results, you can try these search tips outside the advanced search options.
 

• Place words in quotation marks that you wish to be grouped together for your search.
  Example: "Body image"
   
• Place a negative sign (-) in front of words you wish to be excluded from your search.
  Example: Canals -love

To get more results, you can also use these tools provided by Google Scholar.
 

• Cited by
  Underneath the results item, you will see an option that says "Cited by #". Clicking this will bring up a list of items that have listed the original source in its references or notes. If they are citing a source that was useful for your paper, there is a good chance the new items also may be useful for your paper!
  
   
• Related Articles
  Underneath the results item, you will see an option that says "Related articles". Clicking this will bring up a list of items that Google believes is similar in content and topic.
  
   
• Author's Name
  The author of an item is listed directly below the Google Scholar linked title. Sometimes, the author will be a link, which will allow you to review other item's the author has published. Typically, authors are specialist, so you may find they have written more than one item on your topic.
  

Google Scholar also has some helpful tools for your search results.

• Cite
  The cite function will provide you a citation for the source in MLA, APA, and Chicago style.
  
   
• Save
  The save function will allow you to save the source in your Google Library to easily find the source at a later time.
  
   
• Alerts
  ​On the filter side, you will also notice one of the Google Scholar tools to set up an alert. This may be good for any big projects or a field you are specifically interested in following.