Search Strategies - Justyne Yuen-Lee, W14

Between Google Scholar and Library Databases, I prefer to use Google Scholar. Google Scholar gives relevant search items and highlights the key points in the preview of the result. Library Databases, I find, are difficult to navigate because there are so many options to narrow your search results. I understand that they are designed in that way to help me find better results, but when using Boolean logic, one must spend time thinking of synonyms and conjunctions rather than searching for key terms that you already know.

However, a disadvantage of Google Scholar is that it is difficult to access many of the articles. With library databases, students can access that results through their tuition payments. With the preview with Google Scholar results, I can find relevant key terms.

I think that using both would be beneficial while researching. By using Google Scholar to find relevant key terms and to get an idea of what people have already published, a researcher can use those with Library Databases and access to specific results.