Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Using Google Scholar

For the longest time I thought Google Scholar was simply a search engine to help find articles that were peer reviewed, recent, and relevant.  I have found so much more use for Google Scholar with the added functionality afforded by this search engine.  Having read the topic on Mashable I do not wish to bore others with a replica of the reading, I suggest you look over the ideas suggested.

What I found interesting were the possibilities of students' libraries of research articles, one-click citations, and, my personal favorites, the cited by and related articles options which allow a student (or teacher) to follow the conversation among researchers as an idea transpires, changes, and is challenged from article to article.

By introducing students to the Google Scholar search engine, not only do you give them a method of searching for reliable resources, you show them how to find more, relevant articles.  You could also combine this tool with a web application like timeglider to create a timeline of citations of early articles and show how ideas evolve through time.

Set up a Google Scholar Profile, like everything Google, it links to your Google account.  If you have published articles you can search for them and add them to your profile.  Search on Google Scholar for an interest you may have.  If you are the one person reading this, then you may be interested in educational technology.  Search in Google Scholar and instead of reading an article, click on SAVE below the article.  It will be added to your library.  What's the worst that could happen, you lose 5 minutes.

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