Search Help

Use the index of Help topics to learn how to search for content in MUSE.

If you can't find what you need in the search help, please contact MUSE Customer Support.

Conducting a Search

• Browser Requirements
• Content Included in Search
• Search Box
• Options for Filtering Search Results

Tips for Searching

• Diacritics, Special Characters, Hyphens, and Punctuation
• Boolean (AND, OR, NOT) and Phrase ("") Searching

Working With Results

• Sorting Results - Relevance - Date
• How to Cite Content from Project MUSE

Conducting a Search

Browser Requirements

The Project MUSE search interface utilizes cascading style sheets, supported by and tested on the following browsers:

• PC and MAC - Internet Explorer 6.0; Mozilla Firefox 7.0; Chrome 15; Opera 10

For best results, please use these or higher versions of the browsers. If you experience display problems while using one of the platform/browser combinations listed, please contact Customer Support.

Enabling javascript is required in order to use the Project MUSE search interface.

Internet Explorer 6.0: Under Explorer, choose Preferences, select Web Content, then make sure "Enable Scripting" is checked under "Active Content."

Content Included in Search

If you are from an institution that subscribes to MUSE journals or has purchased MUSE books, the search engine will retrieve results from all content to which your institution has access.

If the search engine does not recognize you as an institutional subscriber, the search engine will search all MUSE books and journal content, however, you will not have access to the full-text. If you have password access to a particular journal in MUSE, we recommend that you select the journal through Browse and on the journal home page, use the Search Inside This Journal search box.

You can also view our list of journal subscribers to check if your institution subscribes, and to which of the six MUSE journal collections it subscribes. Please refer any questions about access to books to your institution's library.

Please note that anyone may use the Project MUSE search engine. To view full-text articles and book chapters, however, you must be from an institution which subscribes to MUSE or have password access, e.g. through association membership.

Search Box

The search box is available on each page on the website and offers users the option of searching both books and journals, or filtering by content type prior to running the search. At the search results level, users may again filter to just books or just journals, as well as to only content for which they have full text access.

• Enter term(s) in the search box. Use quotations to search for a phrase (e.g., "paradise lost").
• If desired, use Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) to combine terms in different ways.

Options for Filtering (Limiting) Search Results

Use the filtering options on the left side of the search results page to refine your results to a more focused set of results. The number after each option is the number of books, journals, or both books and journals relative to your search within that particular option. Options include:

Content Type

Based on the journals and books to which your institution has access, the Content Type box will show the number of journals and books with content relevant to your search term.

• Select the Journals box to view only journal articles
• Select the Books box to view only books
• To continue to view all journal and book content relevant to your search, leave both boxes blank

Research Area

Project MUSE organizes content into subject groupings called Research Areas. Check the box next to the Research Area from which you would like to see search results.

Author

Select an author to view only content by that author within your search results.

Language

You can limit your search results by the language in which the article or book is written. Most journal articles and books in MUSE are written in English, however, there is content written in other languages. If search results indicate content in multiple languages, select the language in which to limit your search results.

Tips for Searching

Diacritics, Special Characters, Hyphens, and Punctuation

Diacritics and Special Characters

• Type in terms and ignore diacritics when searching. For example, do not use an "e" for umlauts.
• Use these substitutions for the following special characters:
• Type "ss" for ß
• Type "ae" for æ
• Type "o" for ø
• Type "n" for ñ
• Type "a" for å
• Type "c" for ç

• Examples:
  nagele will retrieve Nägele.
  alvarez will retrieve álvarez
  "Theory and Event" will retrieve Theory & Event.

Hyphens and Punctuation

• In general, do not type punctuation or characters (including ampersands) in your search: punctuation and special characters are ignored by the search engine and treated as spaces.
• However, when punctuation or characters appear as parts of words (e.g., hyphenated names or initials), enter the punctuation or character or leave a space and enclose in quotes.
• Z39.50 or "Z39 50" will retrieve Z39.50
• high/low or "high low" will retrieve high/low
• Reid-Pharr or "Reid Pharr" will retrieve Reid-Pharr
• W.E.B. DuBois or "W E B" Dubois will retrieve W.E.B. DuBois or W. E. B. Dubois
• Note: Typing W. E. B. DuBois or W E B DuBois (spaces between initials) will also retrieve W.E.B. Dubois or W. E. B. DuBois, but possibly other hits since the search engine will process the initials each as a separate term, e.g. w AND e AND b AND DuBois).

Boolean (AND, OR, NOT) and Phrase ("") Searching

• Boolean "operators" AND, OR, and NOT are supported:
• Type in "operators" AND, OR, and NOT in the search statement.
• Use quotation marks (" ") to search for phrases (words together in exact order).
• The search box automatically combines terms so you don't need to type "AND."
• When using more than one kind of "operator" the search engine combines the operators from "left to right."

criseyde and chaucer
Retrieves results with both terms

hamlet not macbeth
Retrieves results with the term hamlet but not Macbeth

beloved or "song of solomon"
Retrieves results with either the term beloved or the phrase 'song of solomon.'

kerouac ginsberg burroughs ferlinghetti
Retrieves results which contain all of these terms

kerouac "dharma bums" "on the road"
Retrieves results which contain the term 'kerouac' and the phrases 'dharma bums' and 'on the road.'

milwaukee or atlanta and braves
Retrieves articles with braves and either milwaukee or atlanta or both.

• To make sure you enter the search you want regardless of order of terms, either:
• Use parentheses to have those terms searched first:

(milwaukee or atlanta) and braves
braves and (milwaukee or atlanta)
Retrieves articles with braves and either milwaukee or atlanta or both.

milwaukee or atlanta
[AND]
braves

braves
[AND]
atlanta or milwaukee

These advanced examples also retrieve articles with braves and either milwaukee or atlanta or both.

Working with Results

Sorting Results

Use the " Sort by:" pull-down to sort results by:

• Relevance (the default)
  Selecting Relevance results in an order starting from the most pertinent based on calculation of frequency and proximity of search terms.
  Keep in mind, however, that "relevance" is calculated by software and is not fool-proof. Please use relevancy ranking as a general guide. Use the Options for Filtering Search Results to get a smaller, more focused results set.
• Date
  Selecting Date Ascending puts results in order by publication date starting from the oldest results.
  Selecting Date Descending puts results in order by publication date starting from the most recent results.

Use the "Items per page:" pull-down to choose how many results to display per page.

How to Cite Content from Project MUSE

Refer to the PDF guide for examples of how to cite MUSE journals and books.