Research Guides: Search for Articles: Improve Search Results

Refine Results

Use the filters on the left side of your results to limit to the type of resource or peer-reviewed journals:

Two additional toggle switches are available:

Include articles available through Interlibrary Loan = turn it on to return more results, some of which you will need to request for free via Interlibrary Loan
Search in full text = turn it off to find fewer results

Too many results?

Narrow your topic by time, geography, or by focusing on a facet of your topic.
Add in more, or more specific, search words.
Consider using another, more specific, subject database that may be more focused on your topic.

Too few results?

Eliminate limiters or filters.
Rethink, and possibly eliminate, any keywords that are too specific.
Think of synonyms or related words to search instead.
- For example, tablet instead of iPad.
- You can also combine synonyms by using the Boolean command OR, inside parentheses so the search tool knows to group those words together: (tablet OR iPad)

These Boolean operators connect your search words together to either narrow or expand your list of results.

AND will retrieve results that use BOTH terms, leading to fewer results.
OR will retrieve results that use EITHER term, leading to more results.
NOT will retrieve results that use the first term but not the second, leading to fewer results.
The order in which the database reads these operators is first NOT, then AND, finally OR.

Truncation broadens your search results to include various word endings and spellings.

To use truncation, enter the root of a word and put the truncation symbol * at the end. For example:

Truncation symbols may vary by database. Check the database's Help screen.

Wildcards substitute a symbol for one letter of a word. Some, but not all, databases use wildcards.

This is useful if a word is spelled in different ways, but still has the same meaning. For example: