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EBSCOhost Database - Search Tips: Limiters

Limiters: On the Left

Limiters allow you to refine your results and tell the database exactly what type of source you are looking for. Every database has limiters. EBSCOhost database limiters are on the left-hand side. Other databases may keep the limiters along the top of the site or on the right. 

The main types of limiters are: 

Publication and Availability Type: 

The section of the database results list that says "Limit To" and gives options to select "Full Text" or "Scholarly (Peer Reviewed) Journals"

Full Text: You're asking the database to only show you results where the full text of the resource lives in this specific database. For undergraduates, this may be desirable. For graduate students, the results will become limited 

Scholarly (Peer Reviewed) Journals: Remove all the resources from your results list that have not been peer-reviewed and limit to a specific kind of publication type. 

Date: 

The section of the database results list that allows you to limit via date. This is a sliding scale from 1936 to 2024

Date: Let the database know what date range you are looking for. Most of the time, you'll want to limit your results to the most recent sources in the last 8 to 10 years. 

Source Type: 

The section of the database results list that allows you to limit the source types you'd like to see. This list allows you to limit to Academic Journals, Magazines, Conference Papers, and Books

Source Type: Let the database know exactly what type of source you're looking for.

  • Academic Journals often include peer-reviewed, empirical/primary source articles or peer-reviewed analyses and reviews.
  • Magazines are usually popular sources (the type of glassy publication you find in the grocery store checkout aisle).
  • Conference papers include peer-reviewed presentations and papers.
  • Books include ebooks and chapters from academic publishers.
  • Trade Publications are magazines published specifically for professionals in a specific trade (for example, the magazine called "The Chronicle of Higher Education" is a magazine specifically for people working on college campuses) 

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