Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Google Your Way to Scholarly Articles

If you've attended one of the library's instruction sessions -- say, through your English 1020 or U1010 class -- you've probably heard us tout the articles in the library databases as superior to what you can find in a web search. And while that's mostly true -- after all, anyone can post anything on the web -- you can use a specialized Google search, Google Scholar, to tap into the many of the library's scholarly subscriptions through an easy search engine.

To use Google Scholar on campus, you simply go to http://scholar.google.com/ and start searching. Your search results will include articles that you, as an MTSU affiliate, can access for free, as well as materials to which we are not subscribed. To check for access, look for a link to Full Text at MTSU to the side of the citation.



Or you may see Check MTSU Library below the citation. This will allow to look for other means of access, including print access in the library.

If you are searching off-campus, you will need to set your Scholar Preferences from the top right corner of the screen.



Search for Middle Tennessee State University and check all of the resulting boxes. This will allow you to log in to access the articles that require an MTSU affiliation.




So there you have it! You can get (much of) the good stuff while feeling like you're bucking the system. And the next time your librarian tells you that you can't Google your way to quality sources, you can smile knowingly at the truth.

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