How Do You Use Google Scholar to Find Free Scholarly Articles?

To find free abstracts for most scholarly articles using the Google Scholar search engine, users can simply search by phrase, title or author. The Google Scholar search engine may include results that require a subscription fee to read the full abstract or article; however, there are ways to find free articles.

Users can utilize similar techniques used for a basic Google engine search. Users can also do an advanced search on Google Scholar.

  1. Access the Google Scholar engine
  2. Type in the particular search term for articles by using a phrase, author or title. Place a search phrase enclosed in quotation marks to search for that specific word order, such as “amoebic dysentery in children.” Search by either the title or author by using operators, such as intitle: amoebic dysentery or author: “doe john.”

  3. Go to the search result page
  4. Find a recent paper by clicking on the left sidebar. Click on the “Since year” or “Sort by date” to bring up the newer articles or those sorted by dates.

  5. Find a free scholarly article
  6. Read through the search result page and choose an article from the list of citation. Use the library link if the article has one, which may be case if the user or a student is connected to a particular university, states the Google Scholar website. Click the link marked PDF located to the right of the chosen article and read the free article. Click on the “All versions,” “Cited by,” “Related articles” or “More” located under the particular search result to find other similar articles if there is no PDF link or a subscription is necessary for a chosen article.