Module 2: Search Strategies

Setting Limits

The catalog and most databases support limiting. This allows you to exclude information based on different categories. Some common limiters are:

• Date (For example: nothing older than 1993)
• Publication type (newspaper, magazine, scholarly journal, etc.)
• Full Text (materials that are available in their entirety, not just citations or abstracts)
• Language (For example: only things written in Spanish)

Some subject specific databases offer limits that are specific to the subjects being covered. For instance, ERIC, an education database, allows you to limit by grade level (like middle school).