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SOCI 201 - Introduction to Sociology - Flavin

Refining Your Search

When you perform a database search, often you will be given a lot of results -more than you could ever go through. When this happens, it's important to tell the database exactly what kind of resources your looking for by applying filters.

Filters (sometimes called limiters) help take away search results you don't want. You can filter by type and date.

Type - Each of these filters helps to make sure that the kinds of results your search gives you are appropriate for research.

  • Scholarly (Peer Reviewed) Journals - Limits results to only articles that have been reviewed by other experts (so we know we can trust it too).
  • Academic Journals - Limits results to only articles presenting research and findings.
  • Full Text - Limits results to only articles you can access right now. However, remember that the library can bring in journals we don't currently have from other libraries.

Date - These filters limit your results according to when they were published.

  • Limit results to the last 5 years - This ensures that you only see the most recent articles on your topic. You may continue to subtract years if your  results are still too large.

Database Searching Tutorial

Sociology

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Additional Resources

Sociology Subject Guide

Another good resource is our Sociology Subject Guide. This guide covers a wide variety of resources including reference resources, journal titles, statistic resources, and career information.