I have mixed emotion when it comes to using Google scholar. I like the ease with which I'm able to run federated searches and not have to worry about indexing or controlled vocabularies, but in the end I know that my results are highly skewed and incomplete. In its current form, Google Scholar is quick 'n dirty, fast food search at best. For now, I think it's best to use Google Scholar as a way to pick up keywords and concepts, afterwhich, searchers can use WITHIN the databases that Google pulls its content. The best review of Google Scholar I've seen to date comes from <a href="http://www.galegroup.com/servlet/HTMLFileServlet?imprint=9999&region=7&fileName=/reference/archive/200412/googlescholar.html">Peter's Digital Reference Shelf</a>. It does a good job laying out the reasons Google Scholar still needs a lot of work and why users should not rely on it as their only search engine when doing research.

Google review article again. Sorry about the broken URL in the previous message. http://www.galegroup.com/servlet/HTMLFileServlet?imprint=9999&region=7&fileName=/reference/archive/200412/googlescholar.html