When you online shopping, you might use filters to narrow down your results to have a better chance of finding what you are looking for. We also do this when we are trying to find articles in a database. All of our databases have filters, that vary slightly but will be very helpful in narrowing your search and finding articles.
A few key filters include:
In the default settings for most of our databases, adding search terms will narrow your results. This could mean you add a gender, age group, or other qualification to your search. For example: You might be researching depression in college athletes. So your initial search terms were depression and athletes. This was too broad and you might want to add the term college or female to your search to narrow the results.
Sometimes your initial search terms may not be enough to find the articles you need, so you will need to try searching the databases with different search terms. You can generate additional search terms by thinking of synonyms for your initial search terms, scanning the list of results for keywords that you haven't thought of, or using the Thesaurus or Subject Terms feature in the database (see our "How to Use the Thesaurus Feature" video for instructions). You may also want to talk with your professor, classmates, or librarian for help brainstorming additional search terms.
Finding the right article for your research assignment can be challenging and there may not be a perfect article. Often you may need to do more than one search or go to the second page of the search results list. However, this process can help you with narrowing down the possibilities.
1. Scan the results list for titles that sound interesting or best match your topic.
2. Click on the title of the article to open the detailed record page
3. Read the abstract or summary to learn more about what will be discussed in the article.
4. If the abstract sounds promising, email this article to yourself, so you can come back and read it later.
5. After you have found the potentially helpful articles, skim it to further decide if it is helpful. A rule of thumb would be to find at least 3 more articles than the number required for your assignment, that way if some of the articles you thought would work don't, you still have articles to choose from without having to restart your search.
6. Read the article and take notes. You may also want to ask questions as you read or highlight citations that pique your interest. Adding your own summary about the article can help you when you have to come back to the article during the writing process.
Make a research coach appointment with a librarian today and get help framing research questions, finding or accessing resources, and citation help. Students can meet with a librarian face-to-face in Jackson or through Microsoft Teams video conferencing.