CPCV 225: Introduction to Civic Engagement for Social Good

Google Scholar (scholar.google.com) is a search engine specifically for scholarly literature, much of which is peer-reviewed. Search results include abstracts and links to paywalled academic journal articles; full-text open access journal articles, theses, and dissertations (including content from institutional repositories); book citations; and other literature like conference papers, preprints, abstracts, technical reports, court opinions, and patents.

Are you a UMD faculty member, staff, or student? Link Google Scholar to the Libraries to access even more full-text content!

Every search tool and database has pros and cons, and none can find every available resource at once. Google Scholar is especially good at finding individual English-language journal articles by title. For more complex research on a specific topic, try supplementing Google Scholar searches with subject databases and books.

Jump to:

• Link Google Scholar to the UMD Libraries
• Find Articles
• Request Articles
• Cite Articles

Google Scholar will link you directly to content the UMD Libraries subscribe to, making it easier to find full-text journal articles. Here's how to turn on this feature:

1. Go to Google Scholar.
2. Select the menu icon at the top left: 
3. Select Settings: 
4. Select Library links from the left sidebar.
5. Search University of Maryland Libraries in the search box.
6. Select University of Maryland Libraries - Find @ UMD from the options that appear (make sure to click the checkbox).
7. Select Save. Google Scholar will now recognize your UMD affiliation on this computer/browser.

NOTE: Google Scholar should link you to UMD Libraries results if you're logged in with a UMD email address or using a campus computer. If you're not seeing any Find @ UMD links in your search, follow the steps above to double-check your settings.

Find an Article From a Citation

1. Copy and paste the title of an article into the Google Scholar search box.
2. Locate the article in the results.
3. Select any of the links on the right side of the result to open a full-text version.
4. Full-text links not working? Click the title of the article and reload the page with our Reload Button to see if we subscribe. 
5. Still no full-text version? Request the article.

Find Articles That Cite a Specific Article

The Cited by function will show the research that has cited a given article. This is especially useful for literature reviews! Select the Cited by link below a search result to view the list.

Find Research by Author

Many researchers have Google Scholar profiles that list their institutional affiliations and publications, like this example. Click any underlined author's name in your article search result.

Alternatively, you can search for authors by name: author:"safiya noble" or author:"s noble". This option also works for authors who don't have a Google Scholar profile.

Search by Keyword

Google Scholar brings back a lot of results across many disciplines. This can be useful, but for more complex or specific topics, try searching subject-specific databases as well.

Experiment with different keywords in your Google Scholar searches, and scroll through your results to get more keyword ideas. For more targeted results, use multiple keywords/phrases and Boolean operators (AND, OR, and -), like these examples:

• social media advertising clickthrough
• "dialectical behavior therapy" (children OR youth OR teenager OR adolescent)
• diversity survey -environmental -biology

Use the filters on the left side to narrow to more recent results, or results within a custom date range.

Once you've found a few articles that are very relevant to your topic, you can find more related research:

• To find newer scholarship, use the Cited by links under your articles' Google Scholar results.
• To find previous scholarship, look through your articles' literature reviews/bibliographies and look up citations with Google Scholar (for articles) and UMD Discover (for books).

If you can't access the full-text version of an article, the UMD Library might not subscribe to that particular journal. However, we can get nearly any article for you from another library through interlibrary loan. Here's how to place requests through Google Scholar:

1. Search for the article by title in Google Scholar. If there aren't any Find @ UMD access links on the right side of the page, the library probably doesn't subscribe to it, so you can request it.
2. Click the icon of two arrows >> underneath the search result, and then click Not available @ UMD.
   
3. This should open a UMD Discover results page for the article. Scroll down to Get It and click Request a Scan or Request ILL.
   
    
4. Fill out and submit the request form.
   • Note: If you've never used ILL before, you'll need to set up your account (it's easy!). Click UMD Users Login on the ILL page. 
5. Success! You'll receive an email with the link to your article within 1-3 business days.

Need help? Email our interlibrary loan team at docdel@umd.edu, or call 301-405-9178 (Monday - Friday, 10am - 5pm)

Google Scholar can generate citations for articles in a few different styles, including MLA, APA, and Chicago. To get a citation:

1. Select the  Cite link below an article result.
2. Copy and paste the citation for the style you're using. 
3. Double-check and edit the citation as needed. It will likely have formatting errors.