Using Specialized Search Tools: Google Scholar

    In Google Scholar, the features on the left side are search for articles under "Any time" (to search by year, with the option to customize the range), "sort by relevance" (date), include, patents, and include citations.  The feature on the right side are "My profile" and "my library."  The feature on the left are more self explanatory:  being able to filter results based on date and year, or to customize the year of publication for resources.  The "my profile" and "my library" features are not as self-explanatory, but when utilized, can help make the researching process occur much more smoothly.   "My profile" is for individuals who may have articles/publications that they want tracked.  "My library" is helpful when researching different articles and an individual clicks on the star icon to save it to their library.  This is essentially akin to bookmarking, and so it allows the user to then reference all the articles/resources that were added to their library later on without having to re-type and search for it later on.

   A significant pro to Google Scholar is convenience.  When students are assigned research projects, most automatically think of what they can quickly "google."  Regardless of what resources their teacher/institution/district may have through different search databases, it is likely that students will still turn to the Google search engine.  In light of this, while it is important for educators to teach students how to use the other resources available to them, they should also teach students how to use Google Scholar.  Having now taught at all levels from elementary to college in the span of my teaching career, at every level, what I see as lacking is any teaching on the use of Google Scholar, but at the same time colleagues complaining to a degree that their student "just googled their topic decided to use the top 3 search results as their three sources."  Perhaps more educators at the secondary and post-secondary levels of education are now teaching their students how to use Google Scholar, but if we know students are going to go on Google, isn't it important for them to know how to use it in a meaningful way?  In past Cairn courses, I have utilized both the resources from the Cairn library as well as Google Scholar for my research endeavors even when professors have not specifically stated using Google Scholar, just out the convenience of already using Google through my Cairn account as well as personally.  The "my library" function was what I love about Google Scholar, since there are times when I am able to get graduate school work done at school.  I can easily sign into my Cairn account and find what was saved, versus not having that same kind of convenience with the Masland resources.

      A con that is not specific to Google Scholar, but one that was significant to me is the citation function.  While I do use the citation function to help with the ease of building a Works Cited/References/Bibliography, I have two major issues with the citation function:  depending on the formatting style, footnotes are not always the proper way to cite a text for in-text citation, and the citation function can be used as a crutch.  I believe that there is value in students learning the elements and the order of a Works Cited/References/Bibliography page.  Having taught in the secondary and post-secondary levels, I am very apt with MLA and am required to stay updated on it.  There are instances when the citations have been incorrect and I end up going in an correcting it anyway.  I realize that not all educators will be sticklers for the correct formatting, order, etc., but having personally had that foundation in my own schooling at the secondary and post-secondary level, these are the major qualms that I have with the citation function in Google apps.  I have personally seen students use this as a crutch and not truly learning how to properly cite, and even stating, "Why do I need to learn this when I can just click this?" or "Why do I need to learn it when I can just type it into a citation generator?"  my answer has remained consistent in that these automatically-generated citation tools are simply that--they are tools.  Yes, they make our lives easier in that we won't have to follow a style guide, figure out which source, how many authors, etc. and manually type in the information on our own, but there is value in knowing how to do it so that when the tools are incorrect, you can identify the errors in your work before submitting it and having it incorrect.

      Overall, I would recommend (and have recommended) Google Scholar to students and to fellow educators for the convenience and ease with which to find reputable sources and especially to save them to return to later.  The ability to search by year/date/relevancy has personally made a difference for me in my own graduate work when professors have assigned papers requiring that the sources come from no later than the last three years.  It helps to have tools like these in place to make research easy, as it helps to make the weeding out process easier when trying to select sources to use.  I don't think Google Scholar has been recommended enough in my circles and is a Google search tool that is disproportionately underused and undervalued.