How to Search for Citations in Google Scholar

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For those who are looking for the method of searching for citations in Google Scholar, it can mean two things. The first one is searching for citations in Google Scholar that can be used in your work and the second one is searching for the numbers a work has been cited in Google Scholar.

If the one that you are looking for is the way to search for citations in Google Scholar that can be used in your own work, the following information is for you.

There are a few steps to follow to search for citations in Google Scholar that can be used in your own work, as follows:

  1. The first thing that you need to do is to the official website of Google Scholar at http://scholar.google.com.
  2. When you are on its homepage, enter the title of the article that you are going to cite as a reference in the search field.
  3. Upon being presented with the results, find the one that you are looking for.
  4. After finding one, it is time for you to click on the Cite link that is located next to the item.
  5. After that, choose your citation style.
  6. In the next step, paste the citation into your working document.
  7. Make sure to double check and then adjust formatting as needed in order to match your chosen citation style.

It should be noted that search results usually include “Cited by …” links below the citation, which makes it possible for you to be led to the other articles that are available to Google’s robots. It is possible for the full text to not be available via Google. If it is the case, you are suggested to go to the library as it probably has it in a subscription database or print copy for you.

If you mean searching for the number a work has been cited in Google Scholar, you can check out the information below.

Basically, Google Scholar is known as a platform where everyone is able to track how many times an item is cited by other documents in Google Scholar. It can be a great source for tracking citations forward as it includes all sorts of scholarly works, such as Google books, journals, papers, articles and so on. In the fields of study that rely on books to a greater degree than journals, you may find very different results in this platform compared to Web of Science.

In order to search for citations in Google Scholar, here is step by step to follow:

  1. First of all, you should go to the official website of Google Scholar at http://scholar.google.com.
  2. On the search bar, enter the book, journal, article, paper, or some other thing that you are looking for. If you want to get an advanced search screen, you can click on the small downward triangle that is located close to the search button or the magnifying glass.
  3. By pressing Enter or the magnifying glass icon, you will be presented with the results related to the keyword. Talking about the results, they will be ranked by relevance. There are also matching titles closer to the top. Under every entry, you will be able to see a link that says “Cited by …” followed by a number. Please look carefully as there is a chance there is more than one entry matching your search. Usually, there will be a separate entry with citation at the start of the title. If it happens, it means it is the only one in Google Scholar as a citation. Apparently, both kinds of entries are useful for tracing citations forward.
  4. If you want to bring the list of citing documents in Google Scholar, you can click on “Cited by …”. All of them are arranged with the most highly cited works at the top. For those who want to find a copy of these works, all that you have to do is to find the PDF links that are located on the right. Apart from that, you can also find the links to Find it @ UToledo to the right or below every citation. For your information, book entries will also have the ability to find a library. However, you will have to click on More if you want to reveal those links. Keep in mind that it will look for the book in libraries that are close to yours based on ZIP code.
  5. For anyone who wants to further narrow your search, you can do it by searching within the citing articles. To be able to do it, you just have to check the box below the search box and then enter your search. In the end, you will be able to see the results that will be a subset of the citing articles identified above.

There are a number of things that you have to take note, as follows:

  • Google Scholar does not index every scholarly article. It means it is possible for some articles citing the item under study to not be counted.
  • Google Scholar includes citations from a number of different sources cited by calculation, including Word and PowerPoints documents. Besides, it also ranks everything equally.
  • It can be tricky for the names of the authors to be searched. Plus, the results can be different, depending on the way the name is entered. The best method is to search only the last name of the author and combine it with the main title in quotations.
  • More than one entry for the item under study can be caused by variants in the way the item is cited can result.
  • The term “citation” in brackets [CITATION’ at the start of the entry means that the full text of the item cannot be accessed through Google Scholar. In order to see the full text of the item, just use PittCat for books or article titles or use the Journal Finder on PittCat for journal titles. Please search for specific ejournals by titles or ISSN number.

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