Rating: Very Good
Strong Points: Easy to refine searches, users can save links to papers in their library
Weak Points: Only provides links—need to go to external websites to get full PDFs
Google Scholar makes the endless search for publications a breeze. Essentially, the website is a search engine in the spirit of Google itself, but with a variety of additional features that make it an excellent resource for searching for papers. Users can refine their search using a number of parameters, including publication year, author, or journal. Searching brings up a long list of relevant publications and links to full PDFs, making it easy to skim through anything that piques your interest. Additionally, users can create a profile with their position and affiliation and save papers of interest to their library. The website also provides a list of metrics, such as a journal’s h-index, and users can set alerts for certain journals or topics. Google Scholar is an excellent resource that combines the ease of one of the most well-known search engines with the tools needed to find any publication you could want.