Google Scholar @ ODU

Start with the most important word or phrase first.

• Use quotation marks to search for a phrase or string of words.
• Avoid common words (prepositions, adverbs, and conjuctions)
• Google Scholar does not use truncation. It will search for simple plurals automatically, but will not search other variations. You can use OR to search for variant forms of a word- teen OR teenager.
• Restrict by domain (site:.edu, site:.gov, site:.odu.edu, etc)
• Restrict to certain filetypes: filetype:pdf

The Advanced Search feature allows you to limit to specific authors, publications, dates, and subject areas. Click the "Advanced Scholar Search" link to the right of the search box.

Options for entering words:

• with all of the words: the results must of all of the words anywhere in the record.
• with the exact phrase: the words will be searched together as a phrase.
• with at least one of the words: use synonyms or word variations
• without the words: enter words that you do not want in your results.
• where my words occur: choose "anywhere in the article" or "in the title of the article"

*Note: the system does not always work logically if you use more than one option.

Publication: enter journal abbreviation. You can only enter one publication at a time, so you may want to retry the search with the full journal title or other variations.

Date: Enter desired date range. You can also try the "Recent Articles" link at the top of the results page to limit to the recent 5 years.

Subject Areas: Choose from a variety of broad subject areas.

• Google Scholar automatically ANDs your words together.
• To search synonyms, use OR (be sure to capitalize OR)
• To exclude words, use a minus sign "-" in front of each word you want to exclude

• Type the author name in quotes "ab bochdansky"
• Use initials, since many journals use initials only.
• Try: author:"ab bochdansky"
• To expand try: "ab bochdansky" OR "a bochdansky" OR "alexander bochdansky"

• Type the title, or a portion of the title in quotes. Example: "influence of zooplankton grazing"
• To restrict to titles, try: intitle: "zooplankton grazing"