Google Scholar
Google Scholar can be a powerful way to find scientific journal articles. It's very easy to use and looks and feels just like the regular version of Google. One drawback is that Google Scholar will often connect you to articles from journals that want to charge you to read them. But there's a way around that.

The Library Links Program
The Lane Community College Library participates in the Google Scholar Library Links program. If you set your Google Scholar Settings to include links to articles found in LCC Library databases, you will be able to access articles from LCC Library databases using Google Scholar. To find out how, please visit the Library’s Google Scholar Library Links website. 

Is It Really from a Scientific Journal?
Google Scholar also has other types of materials, not just articles from scientific journals.  Here's some other things you may find:  

1. Other previously published journal articles 
2. Unpublished scholarly articles
3. Conference proceedings
4. Master's theses, dissertations and papers and projects from graduate school-level classes
5. Citations for books, some of which link to parts of the actual book online. 

Sometimes it will be difficult to figure out which information is in an actual peer-reviewed journal and which is not. Here are some methods you can use:

1. Type the name of the journal, "in quotes," into the regular version of Google in order to find that journal's homepage.  Journals often like to brag if they are peer reviewed or refereed, so look for that on their website.
2. Ask your instructor or a librarian to help you.

If you find an interesting article using Google or Google Scholar, but they want to charge you a lot of money for it, first make sure that you've adjusted your Google Scholar settings to include the Lane Community College Library in your Library Links.  

If you still can't access it, then ask a librarian for assistance.  

You could try finding a different article that will serve just as well (a librarian can help with this too).

If you are willing to wait 10-14 days for it, then fill out an online Interlibrary Loan Request.  We can get almost any article for you from another Library without charge. And often, it'll take a lot less than 10 days.