Using Google Scholar and the
CSU East Bay Library

What is Google Scholar?

• Google Scholar indexes a portion of the scholarly literature in a wide range of research interests.
• It includes links to citations for books and theses and articles from peer-reviewed journals, preprints, and technical reports
• It is strongest in science and technology at the present time, and publications that are freely available online.
• Cited references make it possible to find works that cite a work that you searched for, again in the portion of literature indexed by Google Scholar.

How to set up Google Scholar to work with the CSU East Bay Library ?

• You can set your preferences in Google Scholar (both on and off-campus) so that your search results will lead you to materials that are owned by CSU EB or are accessible through CSU EB online subscriptions.
• To set your Google Scholar preferences; go to http://scholar.google.com
• On the right side of the search bar, click on Scholar Preferences
• In the Library Links box, type EAST BAY , and click on Find Library
• You should get CSU East Bay as a result, click in the box next to CSU East Bay to put a check mark in that box.
• Click on Save Preferences
• note: you will need to set up this preference on all the computers you use with Google Scholar.
• With your preferences set to the CSU East Bay Library, you will be able to determine from your Google Scholar results whether the CSU EB Library has access to or owns the material you found in Google Scholar.

Caveats about using Google Scholar

• Google Scholar includes only a portion of scholarly literature in all fields; it does not give you results from everything ever published!
• Search results vary. Much full-text is available, but links often lead only to abstracts (summaries) or citations.
• Duplicate and fragmentary entries appear in search results, as well as variant editions of works, such as preprints and postprints, which may be different from the version published in, say, a peer reviewed journal.

HELP:

If you have questions about Google Scholar, or need assistance with your research, please see the Ask a Librarian page for a variety of ways to seek help from the Library.