Skip to Main Content
Research Guides Databases A-Z Library Catalog Ask a Librarian Library Home Page SUNY New Paltz

Database Searching

Learn how to select a library database for your research topic and how to use the databases to find sources on your topic.

Where are the features located?

Most of the databases have built-in features to help you narrow your search. You can usually find these built-in features around the perimeter of the results page labeled as either filters, limiters, or refiners. You can also see these features when you use the "advanced search" option.

What are the built-in features?

Each database will have slightly different wording for their built-in features. Here are the common words used and what they do. 

  • Limit to
    • usually gives you the option to limit to peer reviewed articles and full text.
  • Resource Type / Source Type / Item Type / Document Type
    • shows you source formats and gives you a chance to specify what format you would like such as newspaper, magazine, scholarly article, and book.
  • Publication Date
    • gives you the option to specify dates for sources.  
  • Subject
    • shows you the subject terms based on the keywords you put into the search bar and gives you the option to select relevant subjects. 
  • Publisher / Publication
    • shows you who published the sources in the search results list and gives you the option to select specific publications. 
  • Author
    • lists the authors of the sources in the search results list and gives you the option to select a specific author. 
  • Language
    • gives you the option to specify what language the sources is in. 
  • Search Within
    • gives you the option to search for a word within the results list. 

What do we recommend?

Depending on your keywords and research focus, you may not need to use the built-in features. We recommend beginning with your keywords only and reviewing the search results to see if they are relevant. If you add too many filters, you may get no results so begin with one or two filters based on your assignment requirements. For example, your assignment specifies scholarly peer reviewed sources so use the limit to option to select peer reviewed articles. 

Limiting to full text may not show you all the sources you have access to. Some databases provide you with basic information about the source and then uses a "find it @ new paltz" button to link you to the source in another database. Using the limit to full text option may remove those sources from your results list.

Subjects: Reference