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Education Research for Graduate Students: Search Options & Limiters

Simple Search or Advanced Search

Limiters allow you to refine your search. In ERIC, you can find these limiters on the Advanced Search page, under Filters, and on the results page under the search bar. To see more limiters and filters, you can click "All Filters" for additional options. 

 

Common Limiters

 

  • Full Text 
  • Peer Reviewed 
  • Publication Date

 

ERIC Specific 

 

Depending on the database that you are searching, there may be additional limiters provided. For example, in EBSCOhost's ERIC, you can also limit to results that are Institute of Education Sciences (IES) Funded.  

Other ERIC specific limiters include:

  • Education Level
  • Publication Type

 

Additional Limiters

 

  • Source Types 
  • Subject 
  • Publication 
  • Language 
  • Geography

 

Limiters

Simple Search

 

If you have done a simple search, there will be only one search box at the top of the page.

 

Benefit:

  • Easy to copy and paste search keywords. 

 

 

Drawback: 

  • To search effectively, you need to be familiar with Boolean search operators and other database facets.

 

 

Advanced Search

 

If you have selected an advanced search, there will be three search boxes at the top of the page. This is the default and can be increased/decreased using the plus or minus buttons. 

 

 

Benefits: 

  • Don't have to remember Boolean search operators. 
  • Can search multiple facets like Subject Descriptors (SU) or Journal Title (SO) at one time.

 

Drawbacks: 

  • Harder to copy/paste keywords. 
  • Can be difficult to visualize search string, especially when adding synonyms.