Learning Objectives 1.Students will be able to identify and implement three different strategies for when they are getting too many sources in their search results. 1.Students will be able to identify and implement three different strategies for when they are getting too few sources in their search results. 1.Students will be able to identify and implement three different strategies for when they are getting irrelevant sources in their search results.

Sifting through search results to find the best sources can sometimes be overwhelming. Save yourself time with these strategies and to get to the sources you really want faster. Improving Your Search Results

I Have Too Many Results | I Have Too Few Results | I Have Irrelevant Results | I Need More Help WHY AM I GETTING TOO MANY RESULTS? SLIDE >Your topic or search terms are too board >You are researching a popular topic >You are not using the most appropriate search tool Before Image

I Have Too Many Results | I Have Too Few Results | I Have Irrelevant Results | I Need More Help WHY AM I GETTING TOO MANY RESULTS? Narrow Your Topic Focus on a more specific aspect of your topic: -Important person, population, or organization -Specific issue -Particular place or geographical region -Time period Choose A Different (Rethink Your) Search Tool Different search tools may return different types of results. Learn more about Google and HOLLIS+ as search tools. The more information you know about different database searches the faster you can get your research done. Use Filters Use and combine different types of filters to get the most focused results. Try filtering by: -Date -Peer- reviewed/scholarly/acade mic research -Availability (online/full text or in a library) -Topic or category (also known as “Subject”) >Your topic or search terms are too board >You are researching a popular topic >You are not using the most appropriate search tool After Image

I Have Too Many Results | I Have Too Few Results | I Have Irrelevant Results | I Need More Help WHY AM I GETTING TOO MANY RESULTS? Narrow Your Topic Narrow your topic to focus on a more specific aspect: -Important person, population, or organization -Specific issue -Particular place or geographical region -Time period Modify Your Search Tool or Terms Different search tools may return different types of results. Learn more about Google and HOLLIS+ as search tools. The more information you know about different database searches the faster you can get your research done. Use Filters Use and combine different types of filters to get the most focused result. Try filtering by: -Date -Peer- reviewed/scholarly/academic research -Availability (online/full text or in a library) -Topic or category (also know as “Subject”) SLIDE >Your topic or search terms are too board >You are researching a popular topic >You are not using the most appropriate search tool After Image Modify Your Search Terms It can take multiple tries to get a good combination of keywords: -Use the most important and specific search terms -Add more specific words or synonyms to continue to narrow search results

I Have Too Many Results | I Have Too Few Results | I Have Irrelevant Results | I Need More Help WHY AM I GETTING TOO FEW RESULTS? Broaden Your Topic What is the broader category of your topic? -Use more general search terms instead of a specific idea -Eliminate long phrases/sentences/questio ns -Remove one or two search terms to get more results Choose A Different Search Tool Different search tools may return different types of results. Learn more about Google and HOLLIS+ as search tools. The more information you know about different database searches the faster you can get your research done. Conduct Multiple Searches Search for different aspects of your topic separately. Synthesize the information later. -Topic or category (also know as “Subject”) SLIDE >Your topic or search terms are too narrow >You are researching a very new topic (that may not have a lot of resources written on it) >You are not using the most appropriate search tool After Image

I Have Too Many Results | I Have Too Few Results | I Have Irrelevant Results | I Need More Help WHY AM I GETTING IRRELEVANT RESULTS? Talk to Experts Ask topic specialists who are well versed in your discipline for search term suggestions: -Librarians (Link to list of contacts for students, if possible) -Professors -Teaching Fellows Take Advantage of One Good Result -Click on or search the Subject terms attached to the record of one good article/book -Use the bibliography and works cited to find additional sources -(Link to Google Scholar section of Finding Sources module for more tips) Use Advanced Search Features -Use only the most important words in your search terms – no need to write out a sentence or question -Look for your search words in the Title field only -Look up Subject Headings (Thesaurus/Index/Subject) that group similar articles/books together SLIDE >You are not using language/terminology the search tool associates with the discipline you are researching >Reason 2 >Reason 3 After Image

HAVE QUESTIONS? Ask a Librarian Questions about this site? Contact Digital Learning & UX at Harvard Library at VISIT SIMILAR TUTORIALS: Google & HOLLIS+Primary Sources I Have Too Many Results | I Have Too Few Results | I Have Irrelevant Results | I Need More Help