Google Scholar Saves the Day
Finally, student research assignments made easy
Google Scholar in the Classroom
Sometimes as teachers, nothing can be more arduous than trying to teach students how to utilize "academic sources" in their research. Some of us have spent years reading research paper after research paper full of unreliable sources. We've seen every weak source imaginable from Wikipedia to home blogs to Yahoo Answers. When, oh when, will the inundation of unreliable sources stop? Enter: Google Scholar.
Google Scholar is a search engine that populates ONLY reliable, academic sources acceptable for any scholarly research assignment. And it's free! Hurray! A Google Tool has saved the day once again.
A Google Scholar "How To"
A Quick Tutorial for using Google Scholar
You can even bookmark sources for citations!
Bibliographies and works cited have never been easier! Simply click on the "Settings" tab at the top right of the search engine and then choose your preferred bookmarking tool as shown in the screenshot below.
(Photo courtesy of http://libguides.mit.edu/google/googlescholar)
Other tips and tricks for researching!
1. Use a minus sign (-) to exclude certain words from the search engine results
2. Use an asterisk sign (*) to replace "wildcard" words and let the search engine surprise you!
3. Utilize the Google Toolbar to share your research with other students and teachers. See the screenshot below, courtesy of http://www.iadb.org/library/eng/FHL_Toolbar.html