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SPARK: Student Papers and Academic Research Kit: Evaluating Search Results

A guide to successful academic papers.

Evaluating Search Results

For each of the items that appear in your search results, brief information about the source will be presented, including an abstract/summary, title, author, date of publication, etc. Consider the following to help you decide which items to review in more detail: 

  • Relevance: Look at the title of the source. Does it appear to be on topic?
  • Format: Is the source in the format you need? Is it a book? A scholarly or peer-reviewed article? Many databases provide options that allow you to limit to a particular format.  
  • Year of publication: What is the date of publication? Is it essential to have the most current information? Do you need information from a particular historical period? Many databases offer the option to sort results by date or limit them to specific years.

If you are unsure about the appropriate formats, refer to the "Books, Journals & More " module. To help you evaluate individual items you have considered in more detail, review the PARCA Test.

Too Few Results

Reconsider the number of concepts included in your search. You may need to search for fewer individual concepts. Also, consider other keywords related to your ideas that may help retrieve relevant results.

If a few results are somewhat on topic, consider reviewing the additional information for those sources. This information can generally be viewed by clicking on the title. Many databases assign subject terms to each source. Consider whether any of these subject terms, or other terms found in the abstracts/summaries, might serve as new keywords for further searching.

Verify your spelling to ensure your keywords are accurate.

Too Many Results

Too many results:

  • Consider adding another concept to your search to make it more specific.  
  • If several keywords are being used for a specific concept, consider using only one or two that best represent the concept.   
  • Explore the features the database offers to limit the types and date ranges of results retrieved. These features, such as language, date range, format, subject, etc., can help reduce an extensive list of results to one that is more manageable.

Results Not On Topic

Identify the results that are somewhat on topic and review the additional information for those sources. This information can generally be viewed by clicking on the title. Many databases assign subject terms to each source. Consider whether any of these subject terms, or other terms found in the abstracts/summaries, serve as better or more relevant keywords for your topic.

Check encyclopedias or Wikipedia for synonyms or alternative terms to use as keywords.

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