Google Scholar is a search engine for scholarly information including:

• journal and conference papers
• academic books
• pre-prints and post-prints
• abstracts
• thesis and dissertations
• technical reports from governments and other organizations
• court opinions and patents
• references to printed books and journal articles

How does Google Scholar compare to Library Search?

Despite the name, unfortunately not all content found on Google Scholar is scholarly. It is recommended that you start your searching using Library Search, because results will be limited to academic content only, and to that which you can access full-text. To search beyond our collection, click the "Expand my results" box to the left of the search results. You can also personalise your search by selecting up to five disciplines, whereas Google Scholar does not allow searching by subject area. Library Search also allows much more refined filtering of your search results, e.g. by resource type, subject or author.

Library Search has icons which indicate if an item is open access, and if an article has been peer reviewed. The E-resources tab has a greater range of specialist information including statistics, financial information, films, images and maps which you won't be able to find via Google Scholar.

Although material found in Google Scholar is usually more suitable for study or research, you still need to assess the quality of the information for yourself. More guidance on evaluating sources is available on the study skills webpage and for more detailed information on how to use Library Search, see the Library Search Guide.

Setting up the library link

1. Sign in with your University email address at the top right of the Google Scholar homepage (optional)
2. Select the hamburger menu icon at the top left of the screen
3. Select the gear icon for the Settings options
4. From the list, select Library Links
5. Search for Panola College and select it from the libraries listed, then save your selection
6. Now when doing a search, you should be able to access Panola College subscribed resources via the Findonline@Panola link beside the results

For a visual tutorial, watch below!