Search Smarter: Finding Information in Science and Engineering: Step 3: Limits
What are limits?
Limits let you target your searches and get more accurate results. This will also cut down on the number of results you will get.
Some limits:
• Year ranges - science and engineering research often focuses on the most recent information (e.g. 2008-2017)
• Language (e.g. English. Whilst the abstract might be in English, the full text of the article may be in a different language)
• Publication type (e.g. journal article, review, conference paper)
Example assignment question
Discuss the impact of climate change on Australian ecosystems.
Some limits that might apply to this assignment are:
• Year range (2008-2017)
• English language
• Journal article publication type
Tip: If applying database limits still gives too many results, try adding more specific keywords.
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