A step-by-step guide to finding sources on Google Scholar

At least a few times per semester, I have a conversation with a student, usually undergraduate, that goes something like this…

Student, typically a few days before a paper is due:

Me:

Student:

Me:

Student:

Me:

And then we go through how to use the library database and google scholar, and how to limit search parameters to avoid five million hits or how to expand overly specific search terms.

To help students navigate Google Scholar, I created this step-by-step how-to, complete with screen shots and bonus tips at the end: Finding Scholarly Sources via Google Scholar Spring 2019. It uses Sacramento State as the sample university and communication studies as the subject, but please feel free to use/adapt/share. And definitely let me know what you would add!

–dr. shawna

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