Psychology: Preparing for Literature Reviews

Finding recent papers

Your search results are normally sorted by relevance, not by date. To find newer articles, try the following options in the left sidebar:

1. click "Since Year" to show only recently published papers, sorted by relevance;
2. click "Sort by date" to show just the new additions, sorted by date;
3. click the envelope icon to have new results periodically delivered by email.

Locating the full text of an article

Abstracts are freely available for most of the articles. Alas, reading the entire article may require a subscription. Here're a few things to try:

1. click a library link, e.g., "Full-Text@GCU", to the right of the search result;
2. click a link labeled [PDF] to the right of the search result;
3. click "All versions" under the search result and check out the alternative sources;
4. click "Related articles" or "Cited by" under the search result to explore similar articles.

If you're affiliated with a university, but don't see links such as "FindIt@Harvard", please check with your local library about the best way to access their online subscriptions. You may need to do your search from a computer on campus, or configure your browser to use a library proxy.

Getting better answers

• If you're new to the subject, it may be helpful to pick up the terminology from secondary sources. E.g., a Wikipedia article for "overweight" might suggest a Scholar search for "pediatric hyperalimentation".

• If the search results are too specific for your needs, check out what they're citing in their "References" sections. Referenced works are often more general in nature.

• Similarly, if the search results are too basic for you, click "Cited by" to see newer papers that referenced them. These newer papers will often be more specific.

• Explore! There's rarely a single answer to a research question. Click "Related articles" or "Cited by" to see closely related work, or search for an author's name and see what else they have written.

To find the Advanced Scholar Search, click the Menu option located in the upper left corner.

Click on Advanced Search.

A new box will pop up. 

Example Searches:

This Advanced Search is searching for articles on the benefit of teaching information literacy in schools.

The words  benefit  and  teach  will both be found somewhere in the article.

The phrase  information literacy  will also be in the article. 

One of these words or a combination of these words-- school  or  education  or  college  or  university --will also be in the article. 

Articles will have been published from 2010to present. (Leaving the second box empty will automatically search until present day).

This Advanced Search is searching for articles on the connection between academic success and libraries. 

The phrase academic successwill be found in the article. 

Either libraryor libraries(or both!) will also be found in the article. 

Academic successand libraryor librarieswill be found in the titleof the article. 

This Advanced Search is searching for articles written on social learning that were authored by Albert Bandura. 

The phrase social learningwill be found in the article. 

All articles will be authored by  Albert Bandura. 

Linking to GCU

Google Scholar can be linked to the GCU Library databases, making it a "one-stop shop" for finding articles. Here’s how to do so:

1. Start at the Google Scholar homepage: http://scholar.google.com

2. Click on the Menu icon in the upper left corner.

3. Click on the Gear cog in the right corner of the menu. On some browsers this may appear as Settings below Advanced Search instead.

 4. Click on Library links to the left.

       5. Type Grand Canyon University into the search bar and click the search button.

       6. Click the box next to Grand Canyon University - Full-Text @ GCU to add a check mark.

       7. Once you see Grand Canyon University - Full-Text @ GCU listed with a check mark next to it, click the Save button.

Now you will be able to see which results in Google Scholar are freely available through the GCU library. Review the Accessing Articles and Accessing Books tabs for examples. 

Exporting Citations

Like many databases in the GCU Library, Google Scholar has a built-in citation tool. Here's how to use it:

1. Click the  " (Quotation Marks), outlined below.

       2. A new box will pop up. Copy and paste the required format into your document.

       3. Always double check the citation for accuracy and proper formatting.

To export a reference from Google Scholar into citation management software:

1. Click the  " (Quotation Marks) outlined below.

       2. A new box will pop up. The citation managers will be listed at the bottom of the box. Click your preferred citation manager.

       3. Follow the prompts to complete the export. 

Create a Google Scholar Alert

It is best to use a Google account, such as a gmail, for alerts so you can easily modify them.

1. Enter your search terms, set limiters, and modify your search until you are happy with the results.
2. Click on Create alertin the left side of the search results.
3. You will see your search terms in the Alert queryfield.
4. Your email address will be shown in the Emailfield. You can change the email address if you want to receive alerts in a different email box. If you are not signed in, you need to type the email address that alerts should be sent to.
5. Click on CREATE ALERT.
   
6. If you are not logged in to your Google account, you will be challenged to prove you are not a robot.
   

• If you are not signed in or used the different email address to receive alerts from your Google account:
  • You will receive a confirmation email from Google Scholar Alerts. Once you receive this email, click on the link to confirm the request. If you cannot find the confirmation email, check your spam folder.
    
• If you are signed in and used the same email address to receive alerts as your Google account:
  • You will see the list of alerts you created.  To cancel an alert, click on the Cancelbutton below Actions.
  • If you would like to create another alert, click on CREATE ALERT.

Manage Your Google Scholar Alerts

After a time, you may find that you no longer want to continue receiving alerts for some searches you created in Google Scholar. 

To delete an alert:

1. Log in to your Google Scholar account.
2. Click on the Menu in the upper left of the Google Scholar page and then click on Alerts.
   
   
3. In the list of Alerts that displays, click on the Cancel button next to the search you wish to delete.