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Architecture: Internet Resources

Google Scholar

Google Scholar is a search engine to broadly search scholarly literature, including articles, theses, books, and abstracts from academic publishers, professional societies, online repositories, universities and more. By changing your settings, you can connect to articles and ebooks available from the University of Waterloo Library without having to search individual databases.

Google Scholar searches LOTS of material, searches full-text, lets you use natural language (automatically searches many synonyms, corrects spelling errors), lets you know how many times a source has been cited by others, and lets you resort your results. Be aware the search is not comprehensive - it doesn’t search everything, including all of our databases (i.e. Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals), and not always the most recent material.

Get access from anywhere

Get access from anywhere

Google search tips

Both Google and Google Scholar have advanced search options. Check this list of of all 42 advanced search operators to optimize your searches.

Here is a list some of my favourite advanced search operators:

  • site: limit results to those from a specific website, eg. site:gov.ca university
  • – excludes a term or phrase, eg. jobs –apple
  • AROUND(X) is a proximity operator which finds webpages containing 2 words or phrases within X words of each other, eg. apple AROUND(4) iphone
    • the words “apple” and “iphone” must be present and no further than 4 words apart
  • map: forces Google to show map results for a locational search, eg. map:toronto
    • you can also combine this with search terms, eg. map:toronto architecture

Using Google Scholar

Here are instructions on how to update your Google Scholar settings to link to the University of Waterloo's collections:

  1. Make sure you are logged into the Library’s virtual proxy network using Get Access from Anywhere first
  2. Log into your Google/Gmail account
  3. Click on the 'hamburger menu' icon (the three vertical lines) in the top left corner of your screen
  4. Click on the 'Settings icon' at the bottom of the menu

Screenshot of how to open Google Scholar menu and access settings

  1. Select 'Library Links' from the menu
  2. Search for the University of Waterloo and click on the 'Search' button (the magnifying glass icon)
  3. Click on  the check box for 'University of Waterloo - GetIt!@Waterloo' under the search box
  4. Be sure to 'Save' before exiting your settings (the save button is located in the lower left). Please note, to retain settings in Google Scholar you must turn on cookies.

Screenshot of how to turn on Library Links in Google Scholar Settings

  1. Finally, click on 'Get It!@Waterloo' to access the full-text. Scholarly content from other institutions will also appear in your results which you may be able to also access.

Screenshot of Google Scholar results showing article with 'GetIt!@UWaterloo' link

Free online databases

  • Canadian Libraries page
  • Books to Borrow (please note that you will need to create a free account to borrow books)
  • Open Library may include books with copyright violations
  • Try searching ‘architecture’ or other terms within collections. You can filter by ‘Topics & Subject'