UW Libraries Search and other library databases can be finicky when it comes to processing search entries. In a typical Google search, you can type in whole sentences or questions and the Google algorithm will find results that most closely match and/or answer your question. However, library databases will try to find results that contain all of the words in your search entry, which will often result in failure. This can be frustrating, but there are ways to work around this issue!

Keywords

While UW Libraries Search and databases don’t accept full sentences, they do accept keywords. Keywords are the main points of your topic, and are often single words or phrases , such as “environment” or “adverse effects.”

For example: What is the impact of a soda tax on public health? Does it disadvantage people with lower incomes?

Keywords: soda tax, impact, public health, disadvantages, low income

Subject Headings

Databases often have their own specific subject headings that they use to group similar items together. You can find links to subject headings in article records or in the database’s thesaurus. Using a subject heading in your search will result in more exact or specific results.

highlight of Academic Search Complete's Subject Terms in the top menu bar

Watch the Using Keywords to Research video to learn more!

Limits & Filters

Limits and filters allow you to narrow the focus of your search so that the information retrieved is limited according to the values you select. Each database will vary slightly, but most have a variety of options to limit your search. Limits can commonly be found in Advanced Search settings, as well as on the left or right side of the search results.

Common limits and filters include:

Full-text: selecting this filter will retrieve only results with full-text available
Source/document type: academic journals, magazines, newspapers, etc.
Peer-reviewed: will retrieve only items that have been peer-reviewed
Date published: use this option for materials published within a specific date range
Subject: some databases will give you options for narrowing your search within a specific field of study

screenshot of the advance search feature of Web of Science

How to Access Full Text

As you browse your search results, look for icons or links in order to access the full text HTML or PDFs of articles. Here are some example icons:

Image of Adobe PDF icon Image of HTML page icon Image of Open Access icon

You can also click on the 'Check for Full Text' icon to be redirected into the UW Libraries catalog. This lets you see if UW Libraries has access to the full text version of an article:

Image of the UW Check for Full Text icon

If the full text of an article is not available in the UW Libraries, you can request it from Interlibrary Loan (a free service for obtaining scans of articles, book chapters, and other scholarly material not owned by the UW Libraries).

You’ll need to log in with your UWNetID in order to access online articles and eBooks. Having trouble accessing the databases and sources? Try our proxy bookmarklet or Husky OnNet to stay connected to UW resources even when off-campus.