Getting the most from Google
Google Scholar
Google Scholar is a great place to search for articles about your topic whether you are looking for company information or about the industry or market trends. Google Scholar includes scholarly article content, as well as chapters from authoritative books and reports. Google Scholar is a great place to search when you are not having luck in the databases. The search is more forgiving, and sometimes can help find relevant articles of use to your research. After finding some articles in Scholar, you can see how your subject matter is talked about, and revisit the databases armed with some good information and powerful search terms.
Keep in mind that full text may not always be available from Google Scholar; if you have enough time, articles that do not have accompanying full text may be requested through Interlibrary Loan.
Another place to search for needed information is simply to 'Google it.' Again, it is important to think about what results you are finding. Who is the author or sponsor, why is the information being published? Is there obvious bias? How authoritative is the source that you find?
Google gives you so many results it is difficult to know which ones are useful or reliable. Articles rise to the top of a search based on the number of times they are clicked on; this might not be the best way to choose what will be important for your research.
However, Google allows several ways for you to target your results. If you implement some of the following techniques, you will find that you can leverage the power of Google to help you find solid results for your project. Try out some of the tips below.
Get the most out of your Google search
Searching in Google can also help you uncover relevant articles for your research. The problem is, how to find results that will be helpful?
SITE Searching
One way to target results in Google is to employ the site search. This requires you use a specific phrase before adding search terms to tell Google you only want results from a specific website or domain. The search always begins with site + colon + URL or Domain all without any spaces; next, add a space and insert your search terms. See the examples below -
- site:nytimes.com gender COVID-19 'mental health' This search phrase tells Google that you'd like results for mental health covid-19 found only on the New York Times website **This is one of the best ways to search for articles on a given topic in the New York Times**
- site:gov sexual orientation workplace This search phrase tells Google you'd like to see articles, reports, etc., from government websites that include information or policies about mask wearing in businesses
- site:edu 'gender identity' race This search phrase tells Google to retrieve articles published by or in educational institutions about school reopenings during or after covid
Other search tips in Google
- Limit the date of your results by inserting the phrase after + colon + year or date without any spaces
- after:2016 vaping policies college campuses This phrase tells Google that you'd like all your results to have been published after 2016 (note: the after:2016 phrase can come before or after your search terms)
- You can also limit your results to a given date range by clicking on Tools under the search bar, and then Any Time under that.
- Search for an exact phrase by putting your terms in quotes when entering them in the search bar, e.g., "mental health" or "online shopping" -- placing two or three word terms in quotes will ensure you retrieve results with that exact phrase.
