Skill: ivangdavila/scholar (version 1.0.0)

--- name: Scholar description: Search academic literature with Google Scholar using effective queries, citations, and filters. metadata: {"clawdbot":{"emoji":"🎓","os":["linux","darwin","win32"]}} --- # Google Scholar Research Rules ## Query Construction - Exact phrases in quotes: "machine learning" finds the phrase, not separate words - Exclude terms with minus: neural networks -deep removes deep learning results - OR for alternatives: "global warming" OR "climate change" — must be uppercase - author: operator for specific researchers: author:"Y LeCun" - source: for specific journals: source:"Nature" quantum computing - intitle: forces term in title: intitle:transformer attention ## Time Filters - Custom range critical for recent research — default shows highly cited old papers first - "Since 2023" for cutting-edge but less vetted work - "Since 2020" balances recency and citation accumulation - Sort by date for newest, sort by relevance for most cited — toggle based on need ## Understanding Results - Citation count indicates influence, not quality — popular isn't always right - "Cited by X" link shows who built on this work — follow research forward - "Related articles" finds similar work — useful after finding one good paper - Versions link shows preprints and alternate copies — often free when journal isn't - Quotation marks in snippet show exact matches — verify relevance before clicking ## Finding Full Text - Check "All versions" for free copies — preprints, institutional repositories - Add filetype:pdf to find direct PDF links - Unpaywall browser extension auto-finds legal free versions - Request from authors directly — most will share, academia.edu and ResearchGate common - Institutional access through library proxy — VPN to university network ## Citation Analysis - h-index visible on author profiles — measures productivity and impact - "Cited by" sorted by relevance shows most influential citations - Citation count alone misleads — review papers cite heavily but add less - Self-citations inflate metrics — check who's actually citing - Recent citations more meaningful for living research — old papers cited by habit ## Alerts and Tracking - Create alerts for search terms — email when new papers match - Follow researchers via profiles — notifications for new publications - "Cite" button exports to reference managers — BibTeX, EndNote, RefMan - Save to library requires Google account — organizes papers for later ## Limitations to Know - Coverage biased toward English and STEM — humanities and non-English underrepresented - No quality filter — predatory journals appear alongside legitimate ones - Older papers may not be indexed — pre-digital era incomplete - Cannot search full text — only titles, abstracts, and metadata - Ranking algorithm opaque — not always clear why results ordered as shown ## Evaluating Sources - Check journal reputation before trusting — impact factor as rough guide - Preprints not peer-reviewed — valuable for speed, treat as preliminary - Conference papers vary by field — top-tier in CS, lower status in medicine - Retracted papers may still appear — verify paper status before citing - Thesis and dissertations are gray literature — use cautiously ## Search Strategies - Start broad, narrow with filters — missing papers worse than sorting many - Combine Scholar with domain databases — PubMed for medicine, IEEE for engineering - Snowball: find one good paper, explore its citations and references - Check review papers for comprehensive coverage — synthesize existing knowledge - Multiple queries with synonyms — terminology varies across disciplines ## Common Mistakes - Trusting citation count as quality measure - Ignoring publication date — fields evolve, old papers may be outdated - Stopping at first page of results — good papers may be buried - Not checking for retractions or corrections - Citing papers based only on abstract — always read methodology - Missing preprint versions that are freely available


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