From: Cynthia Porter <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Wed, 12 Sep 2012 12:44:39 -0700

Thank you Ken, I'm glad you asked this question.  I've been thinking
about Google Scholar lately.

I work in a medical library and I like searching in PubMed because it
converts keywords to Medical Subject Headings (MeSH), so it goes
beyond a keyword search (e.g., I search "heart attack" but I get all
the articles with the MeSH "Myocardial infarction").  Doesn't Google
Scholar depend on matching keywords?

Several times I have encountered full text links to journal articles
in Google Scholar for items that are not available online from our
library.  I think that some of these resources were posted without
publisher consent.  Is it wrong to refer a student to this online
resource?  I've sent the link to students, but not a copy of the
document.  This practice just doesn't feel right to me.  I guess I
could tell the student to search it themselves in Google Scholar, but
I don't like it when people tell me to "Google it."

Cynthia

Cynthia Porter
[log in to unmask]
Distance Support Librarian
A.T. Still Memorial Library, Arizona
Mesa, AZ 85206


On Wed, Sep 12, 2012 at 3:48 AM, LIBLICENSE <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> From: Ken Masters <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: Tue, 11 Sep 2012 14:13:00 +0400
>
> Hi All
>
> When conducting literature reviews, especially systematic literature
> reviews, academic researchers usually consult a number of data bases
> (Medline, EBSCO, etc.).  Given that Google Scholar indexes so much, is
> there any reason to use these other data bases at all, rather than to
> simply go to Google Scholar?
>
> I am aware that some of these data bases allow for a more detailed
> type of search (e.g. terms found in abstract only, etc), but if I were
> doing a search for all articles that have, for example, "mobile
> learning" in the their text, would it not make more sense to simply
> perform that initial search in Google Scholar, and ignore the other
> academic databases?  What reference could they offer me that Google
> Scholar doesn't?
>
> (And yes, I'm aware, that Google Scholar will pull up far more grey
> literature, but that is part of the manual sifting process that I
> would have to perform anyway.).
>
> Does anyone know of a comparison study that has been performed?
>
> Thanks.
>
> Regards
>
> Ken
>
> Dr. Ken Masters
> Asst. Professor: Medical Informatics
> Medical Education Unit
> College of Medicine & Health Sciences
> Sultan Qaboos University
> Sultanate of Oman
> E-i-C: The Internet Journal of Medical Education