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SPARK: Evaluating Search Results

A resource for students wanting to improve their academic and research skills.

Evaluating Search Results

For each of the items that appears 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 important to have the most current information? Do you need information from a particular historical period? Many databases provide the option to sort your results by date or to limit results to particular years.

If you are unsure about what formats are appropriate, see the Books, Journals & More module. To help you evaluate individual items you have considered in more detail, review the PARCA Test located under Resources for Research Strategies. Review the sections below for strategies to improve your search.

Any time you want advice on doing research or help getting better search results, you can book an appointment with a librarian who specializes in your subject area.

Too few or no results

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

If a few results are somewhat on topic, take a look at 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.

Check your spelling to make sure your keywords are correct.

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 a large list of results to one that is more manageable.

Results not on topic

Identify the results that are somewhat on topic and take a look at 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 better or more relevant keywords for your topic.

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