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Searching Strategies from Basic to Advanced

This guide provides an approach to strategic searching, in which you gradually target your search by learning from each result and then adjusting the search terms for a more focused set of results.

Narrowing by Sources in OneSearch

Good searchers save time by thinking about where they are most likely to find the answers to their search and targeting those KINDS of sources. 

What kind of information tends to show up in a:

  • newspaper
  • magazine
  • book
  • academic/peer reviewed journal

After you have adjusted the vocabulary in your search, you can narrow your search by Resource Type (circled below). Another common resource used in college papers are Peer-reviewed Journals (circled below).

In OneSearch, these filters are found in the left column:

"Refine My Results" menu in left column of OneSearch results, offering "peer reviewed journals" and several others listed under "Resource Type."

Under resource types, you can search just for books, magazines, or other kinds of sources:

Resource Types in menu to left of search results include articles, book chapters, newspapers, books, and more.