To search for an exact phrase put quotations marks around the first and last words of the phrase. For example: "Japanese popular culture." This will give you results that only include items with that exact phrase.
AND – retrieves results that have all the specified terms. So a search for apples AND oranges will only retrieve results that have apples and oranges in the results. It is a useful way to narrow your search. ***Be sure "AND" is in all caps.
OR – retrieves results with at least one of the search terms. So a search for America OR United States will retrieve results that include either the terms America or United States or both. *** Be sure "OR" is in all caps.
NOT – excludes any search results that includes the specified term. It is most useful to use NOT when trying to eliminate irrelevant results. So a search for Mexico NOT Mexico City will give you results related to Mexico, but will not include results about Mexico City. ***Be sure "NOT" is in all caps.
? - enter a question mark to perform a single character wildcard search. For example, type wom?n to search for records that contain the strings woman, women, and so forth.
* - enter an asterisk to perform a multiple character wildcard search. For example, type cultur* to search for records that contain strings, such as culture, cultural, and culturally.
Note: The system ignores wildcard characters placed at the beginning of search terms. For example, the system treats the search terms ?aying and *aying as if you had searched for aying.
After doing a search in LibrarySearch, you will see a list of results including books, articles, journals, and videos. If you have a large number of results, it is helpful to narrow down your search results. On the left side of the screen under "Refine my results" are a number of filters you can use to refine your search. Below is a description of the available filters, please note that not all searches will provide all these possible filters.
You can also use the filters to exclude certain things from your search. You can click on the red crossed-out check box to exclude specific filters from your search.
Filtering by "Availability" allows you to look only at results that are available in the format you are looking for. For example, if you are only looking for materials available at the UO, you can select "Available at UO." Or if you only want electronic resources available at the UO, you can select "UO eResources."
Filtering by "Resource Type" allows you to look only at results that best fit the format you want. For example, if you are only interested in book chapters, select Book Chapters under "Resource Type" by clicking your choice. Select "Show More" to see other options.
Filter by the person or entity that created the item. This can be tricky to use if the author you are interested in has a common name.
If you are looking for an item at a specific library location (Knight, Price Science Commons, Law Library, etc). Use the "Library" filter to see only requests located at that library location.
Sometimes you know that you are looking for information from a certain time period. For example, you might want only current information. If this is the case, type years into the boxes and select "Refine".
If you are seeing a lot of results that are unrelated to the topic you are looking for, use the subject filter to refine your results to more relevant items. If you do not see a useful subject filter, click the "More options" link to see additional options.
The "Collection" filter refers to electronic resources only and describes the databases that hold the items in your search results. This is a clue that you may want to do more searching in that collection because it is quite relevant to your search.
The "Language" filter is helpful if you are seeing a lot of results in a language you are unable to read. You can narrow to one language by clicking the box next to that language. If you would like to select multiple languages, click "more options" and click the boxes in the "include" column that most closely match your needs.
Genre/Form is a more specific type of format filter than the "material" facet at the top. It will allow you to indicate the type of book or other item most relevant to you.
The "Journal Title" facet allows you to narrow down article results by which journal they are in. This is useful if you want to know which journals to follow in your field of interest.
Sometimes you select a filter that is unhelpful in refining your search. To delete a filter, find the small x next to the name of the filter and word at the top of your list of results (see image). Click that x and it will delete that filter.
After you perform a search and select your left facets/filters, you can make those permanent!
You will see the filters you selected here:
You then need to hover over the facet/filter and click on the “lock” icon:
As noted, this makes the filter persistent throughout your session. A word of warning – don’t forget you have this turned on! If you are not seeing the array of items you were expecting, make sure you have unchecked the lock icon. Clicking “Reset filters” does not remove locked facets.
In general, scholarly sources:
Articles published in scholarly journals which cover academic and scientific research. Scholarly journals are often referred to as "peer-reviewed" or "refereed" journals. Journals can also be scholarly or academic, but not have the extra level of quality control known as "peer review."
Books are not "peer-reviewed," like articles. Instead, they are written by academic scholars, and edited and published (most often) by academic or university presses, e.g.: Routledge, IGI Global, or Oregon State University Press.
A book review can also indicate if the book is scholarly. Use LibrarySearch to find reviews of books.
When in doubt, ask a librarian!
Search in LibrarySearch* or library databases for articles and limit results by "academic sources" or "peer-reviewed sources."
*LibrarySearch includes search results from many of the UO Libraries database subscriptions.
Databases often have a "Scholarly" or "Peer Review" filter option too. Here's an example from one of our EBSCO databases:
Search in LibrarySearch by title or keyword. Many of our books are "scholarly," but look for the name of the publisher to find an academic press, e.g., "Princeton University Press."
1501 Kincaid Street
Eugene, OR 97403
P: 541-346-3053
F: 541-346-3485
