Boolean or 3 Magic Words - AND, OR, NOT

Exact Phrase Searching

Add Quotation Marks for multiple keywords that make up a phrase to search for the term in a specific or EXACT order. This narrows your search and provides more specific and relevant resources.

Examples: social media marketing vs. “social media marketing” or minimum wage vs. "minimum wage"

Filters or Limiters

Most library search tools allow you to filter or limit your search results to help narrow down the list of results you get. Just like shopping online, you can use filters to help you have fewer results to sort through.

Common filters to use are

• Date: Limit to a specific date range or "published within the last x number of years"
• Source Type: Limit to academic/scholarly sources or any other type, such as news, books, eBooks
• Peer Review: Limit to scholarly sources that have been peer reviewed

Keywords

Create a list of keywords associated with your topic. Consider what else it could be called (synonyms). Many times experts are using different terminology than us. Keep an eye out for new terms you find while researching.

Topics can be narrowed or broadened depending on the use of search terms. Some examples:

General: coffee

Narrower: cold brew

Broader: beverages

General: economic theories

Narrower: supply and demand

Broader: economics