If you are not getting enough articles, you probably need to broaden your search. It could also be a sign that you might not be using a database that covers your topic, so check that first. If you are in a database that you think should cover your topic, there are several techniques that you can use to broaden your search.
- When you want more articles try to think of alternate ways of describing your topic. Be flexible with your search terms when looking for resources. Some topics may have synonyms or terms that are close in meaning.
- The boolean operators OR is good to use when there are several terms that can be used to describe similar concepts. If you need more articles, ask yourself if there are other ways to describe your topic and include these synonyms in your search string.
- Some (but not all) databases have fields that you can use to broaden or expand your search, such as search for related words or terms, and search within the full text of the article.
There are several ways that you can narrow your search in online databases.
- Narrow with the Boolean operator.Using "and" indicates that both terms must be present to be retrieved.Most databases allow "and" to be used in your search statement.
- Limit fields are actually the easiest technique to narrow your search results. Virtually all databases have limits that you can apply to your search, though they vary from database to database. Rather than narrowing by concept, as with and, this strategy allows one to reduce the search results by limiting to specific attributes of a publication, such as full text, date or publication type.
- It's OK to start broad and narrow your search results as you focus on your research topic.
