Object of class Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Builder could not be converted to string in filtering

I'm making search functionality, and like to add filter my search and my code is like

CODE AREA =========================================================

public function search(Request $request) {

    $q = $request->input('q');

    $resources = Resource::where('title','LIKE','%'.$q.'%')

                    ->orWhere('name','LIKE','%'.$q.'%')

                    ->orWhere('batch','LIKE','%'.$q.'%')

                    ->orWhere('mba/emba','LIKE','%'.$q.'%')

                    ->orWhere('topic','LIKE','%'.$q.'%')

                    ->orWhere('year','LIKE','%'.$q.'%')

                    ->orWhere('company','LIKE','%'.$q.'%')

                    ->orWhere('supervisor','LIKE','%'.$q.'%')

                    ->orWhere('abstract','LIKE','%'.$q.'%') 

                    ->latest()->paginate(5);
    if(count($resources) > 0) {

        return view('blog', [

            'resources' => $resources

        ]);

    }else {

         echo "there is nothing like that result";

    }

}

I'm search with an input value and I would like to filter and i change my code like that.... so I can filter from existing Query

CODE AREA============================================================

 public function search(Request $request) {

    $q = $request->q;

    $resources = Resource::where('title','LIKE','%'.$q.'%')

                    ->orWhere('name','LIKE','%'.$q.'%')

                    ->orWhere('batch','LIKE','%'.$q.'%')

                    ->orWhere('mba/emba','LIKE','%'.$q.'%')

                    ->orWhere('topic','LIKE','%'.$q.'%')

                    ->orWhere('year','LIKE','%'.$q.'%')

                    ->orWhere('company','LIKE','%'.$q.'%')

                    ->orWhere('supervisor','LIKE','%'.$q.'%')

                    ->orWhere('abstract','LIKE','%'.$q.'%');

    $author = $request->author;

    if($author != '') {


        //"This is where the error message show"
        //"I would like to filter from above query"
        =======================================================
        $resources = $this->$resources->where('name', $author) 
        =======================================================
        dd($resources);
    }

    $resources = $resources->latest()->paginate(5);               
    if(count($resources) > 0) {
        return view('blog', [
            'resources' => $resources
        ]);
    }else {
         echo "there is nothing like that result";
    }
}

And so, I'm end up with getting message => "Object of class Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Builder could not be converted to string"

and i'm noob...so plz help....and thank you all

via Chebli Mohamed