Honestly speaking, I do not know that I generally prefer one over the other. Sometimes, I prefer using the traditional library databases, and other times I prefer using Google scholar, just because it feels like familiar territory--I mean, Google is the first place I go to whenever I need to find something out--except more "scholarly," in terms of the search results.
It is always good to use them both when carrying out research though. I did some research on the comparison between Google Scholar and library databases, and a found a great study on the differences between the two. The study was based on two questions: 1) whether Google Scholar results are more or less scholarly than the library database results; 2) whether or not Google Scholar's scholarliness varied across disciplines (http://crl.acrl.org/content/70/3/227.full.pdf). They found that, on average, the results found only in Google Scholar were higher [mean = 17.6] than those found only in the library databases. They also found that the Google's Scholar's scholarliness did not vary significantly across disciplines. Furthermore, they found that any search results that came up in both Google Scholar and the traditional library databases were higher [in terms of scholarliness] than average in comparison to results that showed up only in Google Scholar or the library databases. So based on this study, it is definitely good to use both resources when carrying out research.
I suppose there are no key differences between them except for the ones I have just mentioned based on the study. But one difference I have discovered from personal experience is accessibility. When we carry out research using York University's library database, we can access the resources that often require a paid registration due to the fact that we are York U. students. However, trying to access these same resources directly through Google Scholar may be a little more challenging.
In future, I will continue to rely on both; they are both useful, and there is no harm in using more than one search strategy.
No comments:
Post a Comment