Google Scholar: Advanced Search Tips

Advanced Searching

Enter the advanced search area by clicking the hamburger icon () in the upper left corner of the Google Scholar search page.

Searching in General

Enter your subject search terms in the top four boxes according to how you want the terms to be combined.

Searching by Author, Journal, or Phrase

Author Search:
Enter one or more names in the "return articles authored by" box to search for specific authors.

• Use quotation marks when searching for a first name or initials along with the last name to ensure all will appear in the same name. (e.g. "michale w collins" or "m w collins")
• Enter initials with or without a space between them. (e.g. "m w collins" or "mw collins")
• The order of the first and last name makes little difference to the search (e.g. "michael collins" or "collins michael")

Journal Title Search:
To return results from a particular journal or publication, enter the publication title as either:

• full title: Nature, Journal of Biological Chemistry, etc.
• abbreviation: J Biol Chem, Rev Educ Res, etc.

NOTE: Journal titles may be abbreviated in more than one way. Searching abbreviations will not return records with the full title, and vice versa. To be thorough, search both the full title and alternative forms of abbreviation:

• J Am Chem Soc; J Amer Chem Soc; Journal of the American Chemical Society; JACS

Phrase Search:

• Entering terms in the "with the exact phrase" box will search for the phrase exactly as it was entered.
• Use quotation marks in any other box to specify an exact phrase you want to search for or exclude

​Searching Tips
Use these tips (referred to as search operators) to help refine your search terms:

• the "-" operator
  Excludes all results that include this search term (e.g. biomedicine -magnetic)
• the "~" operator
  Will find synonyms for that word (e.g. ~robotics)
• the "OR" operator
  Returns results that include either of your search terms (e.g. soccer OR football)
• phrase search
  Only returns results that include this exact phrase in quotations (e.g. "attention deficit disorder")
• the "intitle:" operator
  Only returns results that include your search term in the document's title (e.g. intitle:hack)
• the "author" operator
  Returns papers written by people with the name searched (e.g. author:flowers)

Search Features

1. If you're on a networked Manchester computer or using Manchester's WiFi, full text articles are automatically linked to Manchester's databases when available. If you'd like this option to appear on your personal computers off network, see a librarian for assistance in setting it up through the settings area. Click the image below to view in full size.
   
    
2. Did you find a fantastic article on Google Scholar and want more like it? Take a look at the Cited By section. This link re-routes you to a new list of results containing articles indexed in Google Scholar that have cited this particular one. 
   NOTE: You can do the same with articles found in our library database. Simply search Google Scholar for the title of the article and look for the cited by option if available. Click the image below to view in full size.
   
    
3. Similarly, the Related Articles option links to similar articles based on your search terms. Click the image below to view in full size.
   
    
4. You have access to citation information within Google Scholar. Click the Cite option to generate citations for the article in popular style formats such as MLA, APA, and Chicago. Keep in mind, citations are never perfect and should be checked for errors. Additionally, when copying/pasting into a word document, additional formatting will be needed to comply with your citation style formatting requirements.