Google+Scholar

Google scholar is the classic search engine applied to scholarly writing. In addition to its excellent search algorithms, it provides additional data that can be very useful to researchers.

Search Results
Below is an example of a search result from Google Scholar. It clearly emphasizes the title of the paper, along with the bibliographic information (writer, journal/book, year, publisher), and provides either a portion of the abstract or actual text to convey the flavor of the article. In addition, it provides metadata about the article below the result, and extra resources along the right margin of the page. Each of these sections deserves attention.

Cited By
This offers a count of the number of other articles that have cited this specific paper as a reference. The higher the count, the more 'traction' the article has gained among researchers; accordingly this count can be thought of as an informal measure of the impact of the paper.

Related Articles
The related articles link will return a new search with results related to this search result, which can be extremely useful when locating resources for your literature review.

Versions
Many papers are re-published in collections and other works. This link will show each existant version of a paper that Google Scholar is aware of.

Cite
The cite link will launch a popup displaying the correctly formatted citation in MLA, APA, and Chicago styles. Additionally, it can generate the citation in an import format for BibTex, EndNote, RefMan, and RefWorks.

Save
This link will save the article in your Scholar Library, Google's online citation management software.

Extra Resources
Most papers are behind a "paywall," that is, to receive a full-text version of the paper, you must either: 1) subscribe to the journal in question, or 2) purchase the paper for a nominal fee. However, Kansas State University already has agreements with many journals and lending libraries that can offer you the paper without charge. If Google Scholar is aware of your affiliation with K-State, it can offer these resources (at least, the ones for which it is aware) to your directly, as well as offering the "Get It @ K-State" link, which will trigger a K-State libraries search.

How does Google know of your K-State affiliation? Generally, it checks your Internet Protocol (IP) address. This address is assigned to your computer when you connect to the internet. If you connect from within campus, then your IP address is drawn from a block of addresses that are licensed to K-State. Google can then recognize that as an "on-campus" address. But if you are logging in from home, then your IP address is provided by your internet provider, and is not a K-State address, so Google Scholar won't provide these extra resources.

Using a VPN to Access Additional Resources
However, there is a way you can show a K-State IP address from home - by using K-State's Virtual Private Network (VPN). To do this, you must download a VPN client from K-State's VPN resource page []. Once it has been installed, you can run the software, logging in with your K-State EID and password. There are two modes the software, split-tunnel and full-tunnel. You must choose full-tunnel; in this mode your web traffic is routed through a K-State server on campus, which means it will have a K-State IP address, and Google will know you are a K-State affiliate.

IMPORTANT NOTE: As your traffic will be passing through K-State's servers, it will be subject to K-State IT Usage Policy. Among other things, this means that you should turn off any file sharing software before connecting. A list of prohibited software is published here.