The key to making your searches more accurate is to use the tools Primo 1Search provides and to realize that these have specific functions in the search process.
The search that runs if you use the search box on any of the library's web pages is the All Library Resources Search. This is great if you're looking for a cross-section of information sources (articles, books, reference sources, video, etc.). But if you need something specific, such as 2 peer-reviewed journal articles or a book in the library's collection, it's helpful to use the search indexes and item type filters.
Search Indexes
Search indexes and item type filters run your search in a smaller set of sources.
Search indexes are the options available as a drop down menu when you use the search box within Primo 1Search (rather than the one on the library's web site).
The different indexes highlight different types of resources.
All Library Resources -- the default search -- searches all of the library's physical and electronic resources
Library Catalog -- searches all of the library's book collections (physical and electronic) as well as other physically held items (like DVDs) and periodical holdings (the records for newspaper, magazine and journal titles, like the medical journal the Lancet) both electronic and physical.
Articles and more -- includes listings for electronic newspaper, magazine and journal articles as well as all electronic holdings available to DACC Library users
EBSCO Search -- includes all contents from the EBSCO databases. This limiter restricts your results only to those in the EBSCO databases. The disadvantage is that this search prevents you from narrowing your results except in a couple of basic ways. It is NOT necessary to use this technique to view EBSCO results; they appear within other searches as well.
All I-Share Libraries -- searches the physical holdings catalogs of the 90+ libraries in the I-Share system. Use this if you are looking for print books or audiovisual material not held in DACC's physical collection.
Course Reserves -- exclusively searches the physical materials placed on reserves by instructors. It can be searched by instructor's name, course code (PSYC), course title (Introduction to Humanities) or course department (Criminal Justice).
Item Type Filter
Or you may want to use the Items type filter under the search box.
The different item types:
Books -- includes both print books in the collection and ebooks. It doesn't include reference articles.
Articles -- includes articles appearing in journals and magazines, but not newspaper articles or reference articles.
Videos -- includes DVDs in the library's collection as well as streaming videos and clips. It doesn't include videos accessible through Swank and Kanopy.
Journals -- includes whole journal listings only, not articles. It does include some of the library's print periodical archives.
Newspapers -- DON'T use this to try and find Newspapers; use the limiter in the sidebar instead.
Images -- mostly image files from open-access journals.
Audio -- includes audio files, primarily podcasts and news recordings.
Dissertations -- includes open-access dissertations.
Narrowing your results using the Resource Type facet under Tweak Your Results allows you to access similar functionality but somewhat different options.
Use Your Sidebar!
One of the most powerful tools to make your search results more on point is the left-hand sidebar. Labeled Tweak Your Results, the sidebar empowers you to refine your initial search results to produce some more closely in line with your needs.
Expand beyond DACC: If you want to see articles and resources that are not available in the library's own collection, Expand your search. You will not have immediate access to them, but you can use the Interlibrary Loan form link at the top of Primo 1Search to get copies of articles or books that are not available through the I-Share libraries.
Sort by: Defaults to relevance, but can be changed to Date (newest first or oldest first), title or author)
Limit to: Broad ways to restrict results.
Available Online limits results to e-resources rather than physical items in the library's collection.
Peer Reviewed Journals limits results to articles, conference proceedings and book chapters that have received scholarly review prior to publication.
Open Access limits search results to both articles and books that are free and publicly available.
Held by Library restricts the search to the DACC Library's catalog of physical holdings.
Subject: Use this to limit your results to those with a specific subject heading. See Subject Searching to understand why this is more complex than it sounds.
Author/Creator: Use to restrict your search results to those by a specific author (or organizational author).
Date Range: An important tool if you need to focus on research within a specific time period (like the last 2 years).
Resource Type: Use this to limit search results to those in a certain type of publication (books, newspaper articles, journals, etc.) Similar to the Item Type option described above, this filter lists a wider range of production types, including conference proceedings, book chapters, and text resources (the transcripts of audio and television productions).
Location: Again not important for most users, this allows you to limit results to those items in particular areas of the DACC Library's physical collections, such as DVDs.
Journal Title: Use this to limit your results to those appearing in a specific periodical, such as the New York Times or Bicycle Retailer and Industry News.
Citations Tool
If you find an article that looks like just what you need, you can use the Citations Tools (if available for that source) to locate related articles.
The red arrow icons found in some articles under the Citations heading let see either sources that the authors used when preparing the article or those have subsequently cited the article. This is called citation tracing.
Click on the Citations link in the left side menu of the item record
and then click on the arrows.
Clicking upward pointing red arrows runs a new search to show the sources that have referenced the article since it was published.
Clicking the downward arrow will show you the sources cited in the original article.
