1) This tutorial will teach you how to search Google Scholar for scholarly research. It will
also demonstrate how to set your preferences in Scholar so that you can search some of
the Library’s subscription databases, and export references from Google Scholar to
RefWorks.
2) Google Scholar is different from Google, because it only searches scholarly sources, not
everything on the free web. It searches for books, theses, research papers, and articles
from sources like academic publishers, professional organizations, and institutional
repositories.
3) You can access Google Scholar from the Library’s website, from the Quicklinks to AU
Databases list on the Library’s homepage, or by going to scholar.google.ca.
4) If you are starting research on a topic, and you are not sure which journal databases to
use, a search in Google Scholar will help you identify which journal databases might be
useful.
5) If you are researching a current topic, a Google Scholar search might be appropriate
because it searches web-based sources, which are often updated more frequently than
journals or books.
6) Once you have searched the Library’s resources, a Google Scholar search may help you
identify other research which has not been published in a journal or a book. These
additional materials may complement the sources you have already found.
7) To set your preferences in Google Scholar, click on the Settings link, found on the top
right corner of the page. When the new page loads, click on Library Links, found on the
left side of the page under the heading Search Results.
8) Type Athabasca in the search box, and click search. Put checkmarks next to all
Athabasca University Library resources in the list and click Save. Remember to save,
otherwise, your change will be lost.
9) To set Google Scholar up so that you can import references into RefWorks, click on
Settings again. Look for the heading Bibliography manager, near the bottom of the
page, and choose RefWorks from the drop down list and click Save. If you use another
bibliography management tool, like EndNote, you can select it from the list instead.
10)In the search box, type the following search strategy: Ireland and music and
postcolonialism and then click search. A variety of search results will be retrieved. To
import an item into RefWorks, click on the link found below the individual citation.
Click on Athabasca University Library to see if the item is available as part of the AU
Library collection.
11)If the item is available you will be taken to a screen that identifies the databases that the
item can be found in. Click on the link to the database to be taken directly to the article.
You may be asked to login to AU Library’s resources at this point. Your login name and
password are the same as what you use to access myAU.
12)Please direct any questions about Google Scholar or this tutorial to
library@athabascau.ca.