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Here are some techniques that will help you handle a search that is finding too many irrelevant results:
When looking at your search results, you really want the very best stuff to come to the top of the first page. Almost every search engine offers you options for how to sort your results. Your best bet is to choose "Relevance" (also sometimes called "Best Match") to sort your results. That will bring the good stuff up to the top. Sometimes databases have a default sort order of "Newest Published," which is sometimes why your results can look... not great. Changing the sort order should help!
The picture below shows how to change the sort order in databases on the library's EBSCO search platform. Most databases will have a sort order menu on the upper right corner of the results page.
Here are some problems that can become apparent when you review your search results for relevance:
Words that mean the same thing: you searched "nursing" as in the profession of nursing, but there are too many articles about helping nursing mothers with breastfeeding in your results.) In this case, use the NOT operator to remove related keywords such as "mother" from your search. Adding NOT mothers to the end of your search string should help.
Off-the-mark keywords: you searched "tobacco use" to find articles about the negative effects of smoking. However, you're finding too many articles about chewing tobacco. In this case, the keyword you chose is too broad. Remove it from your search (and if necessary, pick more targeted and relevant synonyms to include).
Tip for the health sciences: if you're not getting good results from your PubMed search, we recommend the library database CINAHL as the next database to try. Does your research question pertain to public health, education, or psychology/behavioral health? Try our subject guides on these topics for more database suggestions!