Evaluate Resources: Library vs. Google

Google is a powerful search engine that offers quick and easy web searching. Yet, Google only holds roughly 4% of available internet content. The remaining content is available through paid subscriptions.  One way to access these materials is through your library. McKee Library offers the our students, faculty, and staff access to over 50 databases with high-quality, reliable resources.  If you are not part of our community, check with your local public or academic library. Additionally, there are select open access databases that provide free scholarly resources

The materials in Google are not always reliable and are rarely scholarly. When using sources found on Google (or another search engine), you also want to carefully evaluate each source before using any source in your academic writing. 

Google Scholar offers some options for refining your results. Using library databases is often the best method for locating scholarly sources. If you are using Google Scholar, be sure to connect it to your library for direct access to sources not available on the free internet. The link below provides additional information on searching in Google Scholar.

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