| Tarleton State University Libraries |
Unit
4 |
| SETTING
SEARCH LIMITS |
 |
|
Search
Limits narrow searches
and increase precision. They can be used one at a time, in combinations,
or in conjunction with other techniques for refining searches
(phrase searches, boolean operators, wildcard searches, truncation,
and so on). |
HOW
SEARCH LIMITS INCREASE PRECISION
Most
online search tools let users restrict (limit) searches by activating
search limit features, which are offered on the search interfaces
(basic and/or advanced). These limits include a variety of criteria:
date of publication, publication type (newspaper, audio, etc.), level
of scholarship (academic, popular, and trade), and so on.
Using search limits is especially useful when trying to locate materials
from a specific time period or in a specific resource type. Search
limiters, however, should be used carefully. Too many limits (or poorly
chosen ones) can create searches that do not retrieve any usable items--even
in a database containing an abundance of useful information.
 TOP
HOW
TO CREATE SEARCHES USING LIMITERS
Frequently, a refined search using previously discussed modifications
is all that is needed to retrieve adequate search results. However,
sometimes more restrictions are needed, which is where search limiters
come into play. If offered, each online search tool offers its own
set of limiters, which are usually activated by using checkboxes or
pull-down menus.
The following images show common search limit choices and are accompanied
by explanations about what each choice does. Additional comments are
given as needed.
 |
Limits
results to online full text articles. |
NOTE:
Choosing this option can severely restrict your results because many
journal publishers put citations, not articles online. Others wait
weeks or months to put articles online. Therefore, it is usually best
to not restrict your results to only those articles that can be retrieved
online. Instead, search for citations and articles and locate articles
using the citations (see Unit 6 for more details) -- especially when
you are researching time-sensitive topics.
 |
Limits
results to citations and articles from scholarly/academic journals. |
NOTE:
This limit is useful when searching specifically for scholarly articles.
Be aware, however, that some magazines (trade, popular, special interest,
etc.) also contain useful information and research. Consequently,
restricting your search by using this limiter will filter out results
from these magazines.
TOP
 |
Limits
results to specific date ranges. |
This limiter
comes in handy when you want to retrieve materials published within
a specific time frame (i.e. court cases, writings about a theorist,
and so on) or when you want to restrict results to the most recent
listings (i.e. time-sensitive topics).
 |
Limits
results to specific types of publications. |
Limiting
by source type is especially useful when your information need clearly
indicates that a particular type of material would be most useful.
(Unit 3 discusses matching information sources to information needs.)
TOP
 |
Limits
results to specific types of documents (article, book review,
case study, and so on). |
Using
this search limit can be quite useful, especially if the searches
are retrieving too many irrelevant results and refining the searches
is not increasing precision enough. However, choose document types
carefully so to not limit the search too far. |
Creating
Wildcard Searches