Citation Searching: Free Citation Search Engines - Google Scholar

Free Citation Search Engines

A note of warning:

Although these engines can still provide relevant resources for your topic, it is imperative that you assess the quality of the resources which you may discover. Please consult the Evaluating Sources guide before you commit any undue time to unworthy sources.

Google Scholar

Google Scholar is a vast free database that searches through every discipline, examining not only articles, but also books, "theses, [...] abstracts and court opinions, from academic publishers, professional societies, online repositories, universities and other web sites."¹ For this same reason, it can be a misleading and dangerous resource if the user is not careful to assess the works presented by Google Scholar.

Google Scholar also offers a help page, which users should definitely look over before beginning a search. The Google Scholar search module is not nearly as refined as those presented by WoS, EBSCO, and others. Reading over this page is the best way to ensure an effective search that won't waste your time.

Waidner-Spahr has already set up "Library Links" with Google Scholar, but make sure your preferences reflect that before executing a search.

• If it is not already set up, click on "Library Links" in the left side bar and search for "Dickinson College." By setting up Library Links, Google Scholar will be able to tell you if that resource is available through our catalog, and through a few of our databases. If you are off-campus, you should be able to enter your credentials to access the links.
• If, by chance, you find a work that you think will be useful to you, but Google Scholar does not indicate that we have it, do not hesitate to order the item by Borrowing from Other Libraries.

Once you conduct your search in Google Scholar, a list will be generated of potential works for your search terms:

At the bottom of each result there can be a number of things listed. For the purposes of "citation searching," you should be primarily concerned about the one that reads, "Cited by #."

Clicking on this will lead you to a new page of the works which cited that original work.

• All the same options apply here to the previous list, including where these works are cited, related articles, library search to locate where you might gain access to this work, and even if you can get it through Dickinson.
• It also features the ability to refine these sources down further by "Searching within citing articles."

If the work is an article that is available through Dickinson's online databases, you should be able to click on the name of the article (or in line with the name to the right there will be another link saying from which database it is available, which you can click as well) and GS will load that work.

If the work is available through Dickinson but not online, clicking the text in line and to the right of the title will take you to a page letting you know how to locate that material.

Librarians: ask@dickinson.libanswers.com
Text us: 717-366-6623
Librarians by Department

Circulation desk: 717-245-1397