What is Google Scholar?
Google Scholar functions as a free search engine specifically tailored to index and provide access to scholarly literature across a wide array of disciplines and formats. It allows users to search for numerous academic materials, including articles, theses, conference proceedings, preprints, technical documents, books, and beyond, all sourced from universities, research institutions, academic publishers, and professional organizations.
The platform is crafted to aid researchers, students, and professionals in finding relevant academic resources to support their studies or projects. Users can perform searches by entering keywords, author names, or publication titles, which yields a list of pertinent results that often include direct links to full texts or, at minimum, abstracts and citations. Beyond these functionalities, Google Scholar provides tools that enable users to track citations, find related works, and export citation details in various formats, thus enriching the overall research experience. This extensive resource not only meets the current needs of its users but is also continuously updated to adapt to the ever-changing landscape of academic research. The ongoing enhancements ensure that scholars remain equipped with the most relevant tools for their inquiries and investigations.