Using Google Scholar: Google Scholar Versus Library Databases

Google Scholar

Library Databases

Coverage

Google Scholar says it contains “articles, theses, books, abstracts and court opinions, from academic publishers, professional societies, online repositories, universities and other web sites.”

There is no comprehensive list available of what is actually indexed.

Includes scholarly, newspaper, and magazine articles, books, book chapters, theses, and other sources.

Has clearly defined lists of materials available; is easy to see what sources you are searching.

Access

Searching is free.

Some articles have freely available full text, many more do not.  Often, you will end up at a publisher’s website who would like to charge you for the article. (Don’t pay, articles can be obtained through interlibrary loan.)

Your library pays for access to the databases, many of which have full text and all of which can be requested via interlibrary loan.