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Searching and Working with Your Results

Step-by-step instructions for conducting a search in MUSE with tips for refining your search results and information about exporting search results and citations. Search MUSE using the Article Search box located on each page or the Advanced Article Search page.

Print or download a PDF of these instructions. You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader software in order to access the instructions. If your computer does not have Acrobat Reader, you can download it for free from the Adobe Web site.

Article Search Box

Use the Article Search box located on each page of the MUSE website for quick searches. Search using one or more keywords, or phrases in quotes (" ") or enter a Boolean search using AND, OR, NOT.

Advanced Article Search

Use the Advanced Article Search page to design a complex search using more than one field or to limit the search using options.

Construct a search

Use multiple search boxes to construct a search. Click Add a Row for more search boxes.

Search Tips

Use quotation marks ( " " ) to search for phrases (words together in exact order).
Use an asterisk (*) at the end of a search term if you are not sure of the spelling or want to retrieve words beginning with the same root.
When terms are combined with Boolean operators, the search engine automatically reads the terms from left to right. Use parentheses to tell the search engine which words to combine first.
Example: identity and (gender or sex) will retrieve articles with 'identity' AND either 'gender' or 'sex' or both

Click the dropdown arrow to see Searchable Fields. Select from:

  • All Fields (w/text)
  • All Fields except text
  • Article Text
  • Article Author
  • Article Title
  • Subject Headings
  • Journal Title
  • Author Reviewed
  • Title Reviewed

Additional Search Options Available

Limit your search by Type of Content: Articles, Reviews, types of literary works.

Restrict a search to only titles to which your institution subscribes by checking the box for Only content I have full access to.

Check the box to Include JSTOR back issues in your search. For titles common to MUSE and JSTOR, and if your institution participates in JSTOR, you may be able to retrieve full-text JSTOR articles when searching in MUSE.

Search for articles published in a specific Year or years. Enter:

A four digit year in each box to search a range of dates. i.e. From: 2004 To: 2007
Year in the first box only to specify that year forward. i.e. From: 2005
The same year in both boxes to specify that year only. i.e. From: 2006 To: 2006

Search By Journal Title(s) by selecting from the list of all MUSE titles.

Search By Discipline(s) by selecting from the list of all MUSE disciplines.

Most articles in MUSE are written in English. You may, however, search for the non-English language articles. Click the dropdown arrow to select an Article Language.

Sort and Display

Change how your results display. Sort by Relevance, Date of publication, or Journal. Change how many Results to display at a time, 10, 20, 50, 75, or 100.

Search Tips

Use the option Browse Subject Headings for Articles to find articles relevant to your topic. Scan the terms to find those most closely matching your topic. Click on the term(s) to view the list of articles and/or reviews associated with the terms. Look for Browse Subject Headings for Articles on the right side of the Advanced Article Search page.

Working with Your Search Results

Review search results

To narrow results, enter additional term(s) in the Search Within Results box and select a search field option if desired.

To return to your original terms and make changes, use Modify Search.

To start over with a new search and new search terms, use New Search.

Sort results and change the number of Results per page using the dropdown arrows.

Results display the full citation:

  • Article title
  • Author(s)
  • Journal title
  • Volume and issue
  • Page numbers

Also displayed for each result:

  • Article type (article, review, poetry, drama, fiction)
  • DOI (Digital Object Identifier) when available.
  • Search term(s) highlighted in a preview show the terms as they appear in the article content.
  • Library of Congress Subject Headings describe the main themes discussed in an article and link to more articles about that subject.
  • HTML and/or PDF formats for full text of the article.
  • Color boxes indicate articles for which the user has access to full text.
  • Abstracts included when available.

Saving and Exporting Results

Mark articles to keep by clicking the box to the left of each article.

To save all marked articles on each page, click the Saved Marked Results button at the top of the page.

Click on the View Saved Results button on the upper right side of the page.

In the Export marked results to bar, select one of the export options, then click the Export button.



© 2009 Project MUSE®. Produced by The Johns Hopkins University Press in collaboration with The Milton S. Eisenhower Library.