Comparing Search Pathways

Google can be an effective tool for finding general information, navigating large organisational websites, troubleshooting, and locating grey literature. However, using Google as a research tool can be time-consuming and indirect, so it may not be your best search option for scholarly resources.

Google is not an effective tool for accessing journal articles, books, conference papers, primary sources, and other scholarly materials.

When searching with Google, keep in mind that:

• Google search results cannot be effectively filtered by topic or content type
  You’ll need to manually sort through ads, products and irrelevant webpages before finding what you need.
• Some content is paywalled
  Some webpages will ask you to pay for articles, but you might be able to access this material through the library. Lean Library and Google Scholar can be helpful tools for unlocking this content.
• You might be missing out on content
  Google search results don’t include everything, and some scholarly materials are only discoverable in library catalogues, specialised collections and subject-specific databases.
• Your algorithm may be prioritising certain content types
  Google stores data about your search habits and location, which influences which pages are shown at the top of your search results. Consider whether your search results are biased. Switching your Google search results to verbatim search is one quick way to remove advertisements and summaries from your results.
• You need to evaluate what you find
  How are you selecting which resources to use for research? Consider whether the resource is reliable and scholarly.

You can use Google Advanced Search to improve your results by searching for exact phrases, combining concepts to refine your results, searching for file types, or within a particular website domain.  

How to use Google Advanced Search