Introduction to Google Scholar

Scope

Google Scholar Links to an external site. provides a simple way to broadly search for scholarly literature. From one place, you can search across many disciplines and sources. It includes articles, conference papers, theses and dissertations, academic books, abstracts, technical reports, patents, and court opinions. You will find works from a wide variety of academic publishers, professional societies, and university repositories, as well as scholarly articles available anywhere across the web. You can explore related works, citations, authors, and publications. You can also create alerts so that you’re always up-to-date on the latest research.

Limitations 

Google Scholar is free to use as a search tool. But be aware that Google Scholar is not a comprehensive resource and will not always take you to the full text—that is, the complete work—of items you find. Since it pulls information from many different sources, it is possible that the information you pull up will require a login (or even payment) to access the full information. Miramar College students, staff, and faculty do not need to pay for an article or other work. If the library does not have the resource you need, you can often request a copy from City College or Mesa College.