Google Scholar has been indispensable for my research this semester and so
many semesters before. The breadth of features is not immediately obvious, but
they are quite useful: finding related articles, restricting the time period,
seeing all texts that cite a given article and so on. I find I prefer the
relative simplicity of the interface to the common alternatives (such as
Academic Search Premier and Web of Science,) but wish there was a built-in way
to manage my sources. Finally, the ability to associate with a university (and,
thus, its subscriptions to academic databases) means I don't have to waste as
much time tracking down electronic or hard copies elsewhere.
Review by cjlicata (9 months ago)
Google Scholar has been indispensable for my research this semester and so many semesters before. The breadth of features is not immediately obvious, but they are quite useful: finding related articles, restricting the time period, seeing all texts that cite a given article and so on. I find I prefer the relative simplicity of the interface to the common alternatives (such as Academic Search Premier and Web of Science,) but wish there was a built-in way to manage my sources. Finally, the ability to associate with a university (and, thus, its subscriptions to academic databases) means I don't have to waste as much time tracking down electronic or hard copies elsewhere.