How to Use Google Scholar

Sometimes Google Scholar points you to resources for which you have to pay to get the full text, but COM students faculty, and staff can get many articles from Google Scholar for free!

If you start your search from this Google Scholar link results available automatically display to the side of an article with a direct link to the article. If you are off campus you'll need to login with your COM account.

Click on ProQuest Fulltext or EBSCO Fulltext to go the article if you are on campus. If you are off campus you might have to go to EBSCO through COM Library databases to be authenticated as a legal user. A login page will come up that asks for your COM account. Search by the title of the article to retrieve it.

Most of the articles in Google Scholar come with an abstract, but some are also be available with free full text for everyone. If you don't have access to full text through your local library, here are some things to try to get the full text:

1.  Look for [DOC], [PDF] or [HTML] on the result list. When you see one of these options, just click on it to get the full text.
2. If you don't see [DOC], [PDF] or [HTML] on the result list, look for All versions--there may be a free full text version there.
3. If you still have not found the full text, look for Related articles under your article to see if articles on the same topic are available full text.

If don't go to COM you may be able to add your library. Your library has to set something up on their end in order for it to be available. If they have set it up, try this:

1. Go to Google Scholar http://scholar.google.com
2. Select settings above search box
3. Select library links from the left side of the page
4. You'll be taken to a screen where you can search for your library. If it comes up, check the box(es) and hit save.
5. If you are logged into your Google account your library will be saved for all your Google Scholar searches.