Have you sometimes felt inundated with too many results after searching for articles? That’s common. Luckily, you can narrow your search to obtain both the right number and right type of results to effectively pursue your research.
You can start this process by first narrowing your topic. This helps make your research more efficient because you’re focusing on a smaller part of a larger idea. You can focus on a specific factor such as demographic group, geographic location, time period, or relationship between variables. Essentially asking yourself “who, what, where, when, and why.” For example, instead of researching “the impact of political disinformation online” you can narrow it to “how online political disinformation impacted the presidential election results in Michigan in 2024.”
Once you’ve narrowed your topic, there are some search strategies you can try to help limit the amount of material you find.
Use Specific Terms: Replace broad keywords with more specific terms related to your topic.
Synonyms and Variations: Consider using synonyms or related terms that may yield more focused results.
Put multiple word phrases in quotation marks or parenthesis to search for that exact phrase (e.g., "climate change impact”). This way you will only get results with those exact words in that exact order.
Date Range: Limit results to a specific time frame to find the most relevant or recent sources. For example, you can limit your search from past year instead of the last five years.
Document Type: Filter by types of publications (e.g., peer-reviewed articles, theses, reviews). In many classes, your professor may want you to search for peered-reviewed journals only.
Use the database’s subject headings (rather than using keywords) to find articles that focus on a particular area within your topic. This usually results in fewer, but more precise searches.
Many databases have a “thesaurus” (or list of keywords”) to help users develop more helpful search terms.
After your initial search, review the first few pages of results to identify common terms or themes, and see if you are getting the results you expect. Then, modify your search terms to help find better content.
By following these strategies, you should be able to narrow down your search results and find the most relevant materials. Remember, you can always reach out to a library! We can provide customized tips to help you find what you need.
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