History of Science Online - Course Info - Time tips - Semester at a glance - Weekly assignments at a glance - Timeline - HSCI 3013 - section 995 - Spring 2014

How do I use Google Scholar with the Library's online subscriptions?

A vast amount of the most reliable online content can be accessed through the Library website. The library subscribes to e-journals which often include full-text articles just like you would see in the printed volumes on the Library shelves. Most of these e-journals are generally not available through internet search engines, but need to be accessed through the Library's databases.

• Accessing Library e-journals and databases through LORA
• Also see the last part of How do I evaluate sources for my web project?

However, Google has a service much like the library databases called Google Scholar. There is one key to using it effectively, however:

• Access Google Scholar from the library website using LORA (Library Online Resource Access).

You can go to Google Scholar directly from the Google search engine website, but if you do then you may not have access to online full-text publications obtained through library subscriptions. On the other hand, LORA is linked to Google Scholar in such a way that the results of your searches will link back to the library's online and printed holdings, even if you are off campus!

To search Google Scholar, here's what to do:

1. Go to the Library online website, http://libraries.ou.edu.
    
2. Log in. You can enter your 4x4 and password in the fields on the left margin. If you forget to log in, many of the articles turned up in your search will not be accessible to you! Develop the habit of logging in, first thing, whenever you visit the library home page.
    
3. Click the link at the top to go to LORA ("Library Online Resource Access").
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4. Enter "Google" in the "Search for Resource Title" field, and click "go." The results include databases and ejournals. Click on Databases, and then click on Google Scholar. You will find yourself at the Google Scholar home page.
• Note for geeks: The page will look the same as if you arrived there by going directly to scholar.google.com, but if you click on "Scholar Preferences" you will see that the OU Library system has automatically been added to your list of libraries.
     
5. Enter key words to search. Here are results from a search for "Newton alchemy". Clicking on these these links will lead you to a description of the publication, and in some cases, to an online version of the publication.

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1. If you go to Google Scholar through LORA, as instructed above, then you will occasionally see "OU ArticleLinker" associated with a link (see red circle above). This means that the resource is available through the library, either as a full-text online e-journal or as a printed resource. Click the OU ArticleLinker to go to the library catalog. You will see a page like this:
    
   
    
    
2. On the OU library ArticleLinker page, shown above, reference information for the item is provided at the top. If the item may be included in a library e-journal, you will see a middle area for checking its availability. In this case, the library subscribes to two online resources that probably offer full-text versions of this article. Click one of the "Go to: Article" links in the middle area. If you click the JSTOR "Article" link, you would see a page like this, where you may read the article online:
   
    

What Library holdings does Google Scholar miss?

Right now Google Scholar is in beta, and the results are hit or miss. For example, the OU library actually holds the two printed books by Dobbs shown at the top of the search results shown above (e.g., Janus Faces of Genius). They do not have the OU ArticleLinker link beside them, but they should. Eventually, Google Scholar will probably add the OU ArticleLinker link to these items also. But Google Scholar will never be as accurate as searching the library catalog and databases directly. The same is true for articles and e-journals as well as printed books. So while Google Scholar will be a great way to identify publications of interest to you, never assume that an item is unavailable through the Library just because there is no direct link.

Do I still need other Library databases?

The library has hundreds of databases that allow for more precise searches than Google Scholar if you are looking for publications on specific topics. The library databases also cover a broader scope of academic journals (including e-journals) than Google Scholar. Google Scholar makes a great first-step general search, but you will always find additional results that may be more relevant through the other Library databases, such as the Isis bibliography for the history of science.

Here's how to search the library databases.

What are the other links in the Google Scholar results page?

Only the OU ArticleLinker link was discussed above, but there are other links to explore (see image above):

1. Web Search: this link performs a Google search of the internet, just as if you entered the title of the item in an ordinary Google search field. It is a far more general search than Google Scholar, because it includes potentially anything on the Internet, not just the more academically oriented results targeted by Google Scholar. Google Scholar also includes articles published in printed and online journals that are not accessible through ordinary Google internet searches. For these two reasons, Google Scholar can make a valuable addition to ordinary Google searches.
2. Cited by...: Google appears to be developing a citation index here, so stay tuned to see what they do to faciliate this valuable research technique. Interested? You can also check the Science Citation Index in LORA.

Biology educator and graduate student Geary Crofford reports, after comparing the search results of Google with Google Scholar: "I decided to search for Rhea darwinii, the bird Darwin famously realized he had just eaten, after searching intently for it. Farber mentions it in chapter five of Finding Order in Nature. A search on Google yielded general encyclopedic descriptions of the bird, for the most part, and references to natural history museums, etc. A search using Google Scholar, however, obtained mostly links to scientific publications, and especially links to original works by Darwin. For instance, the first link was to a 1961 article from The Geographical Journal titled "Man and the Environment in the South Chilean Islands". I also noticed that I could directly access the articles, since I had logged in through the OU libraries. When I did the same on Google Scholar without logging in, the articles were usually not available. This gives me another valuable tool in my research arsenal, and reinforces previous notions about using direct, original, and sound references as much as possible."

• Library online video tutorials:
• Using LORA
• Searching Databases
• Article Linker
• Using Article1st
• Inter-Library Loan
• How do I evaluate sources for my web project?
• Must I use only online sources?
• General sources (eg the DSB)
• Isis Bibliography
• Back to Research tips

	HSCI 3013. History of Science to 17th century Kerry Magruder, Instructor, 2004-14 Brent Purkaple, TA Report typos or broken links	Go to this course at Janux spellcheck.net | wordcounter.net Many thanks to the pedagogical model developed in Mythology and Folklore and other online courses by Laura Gibbs, which have been an inspiration for this course.	Academic Calendar
	This course is currently undergoing major reconstruction to bring it into alignment with the new version of the course at Janux