There are some things you will not find in a subscription database. Google is perfect for finding government information such as laws, statistics, data. Also, there are many great websites that are affiliated with .edu sites, and these can be found using Google. Google is just one of many tools a researcher uses.
Google doesn't need much explanation. However, a tiny bit of instruction can go a long way with Google. Check this out:
Cohen, P. (2022, January 24). 21 Google search tips you'll want to learn. PC Magazine.
Did you know that you can search an entire website, like www.cdc.gov just by using Google? Or that you can limit your search to just .gov websites? Or that you can limit your results to just those that have been published in the last 24 hours? Google Advanced Search is a great tool!
Google Scholar is a search engine, like Google, that searches the internet for information that is considered scholarly or suitable for research.
The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has prepared a very useful web page about Google Scholar.
TIP:
To use Google Scholar from off-campus, set your Google Scholar preferences to Regis College Library in order to link directly to any articles found by Google Scholar (and residing in our Regis Library databases.)
Steps:
Do not pay for an article without checking to see if the library has it or can get it for you!
It is not easy to isolate peer-reviewed articles by using Google Scholar. Google Scholar results include:
If you find an article you like and need to determine if it is from a peer-reviewed journal, find the journal homepage online because usually the journal will provide this information. It may be in a section called "About" or you may need to check in a section explaining how to submit an article for publication. Or... you can ask a librarian for help!