From: Sally Morris <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Sun, 16 Sep 2012 15:27:46 +0100

I have a related question - what do people actually use?  Academic
databases, Google Scholar, or plain old Google?

This may be an instance when identifying what's best is fruitless in the
face of what users actually do.

I'd be interested to know of any recent studies on what search tools are
more commonly used by graduate students, researchers, and for that matter
faculty.

Sally

Sally Morris
South House, The Street, Clapham, Worthing, West Sussex, UK  BN13 3UU
Email:  [log in to unmask]

-----Original Message-----

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