• In Subject searching, our search – even as a subject search – got hundreds of results. What else can we do to make this search more specific?
• Most databases allow you to limit your search by various criteria. You can usually apply these limiters either at the time the search is run, or after you have got your results.

Some limiters are available in most online databases. For example:

• Articles with full-text
• Date of publication.

Some limiters are available in some databases but not others. For example:

• Peer-reviewed [If you don’t know what “peer-reviewed” means, please see the page in this guide on Is it Peer-Reviewed? ]
• English language.

Some limiters are specific to a database, because they relate to the particular nature of the content of that database. For example, in CINAHL, you can limit your search to particular types of articles. These article types relate specifically to health/medical journal articles.

The limiters appear in the Limit your results panel:

• There are limiters for all sorts of things. You can activate them either by
  • ticking a box (eg Research Article; Meta-Synthesis; Randomized Controlled Trials); OR
  • entering data (eg Date of Publication); OR
  • choosing from a drop-down menu (eg Publication Type > Systematic Review; Publication Type > Meta-analysis)