Running a Basic Search

To run a basic search on Discover@Bolton, simply type your search term into the search bar. You can search for various criteria, including but not limited to;

• A topic search 
• A subject search 
• Title of a resource
• Author name 

The results will display in a list sorted by RELEVANCE first, meaning how closely the results match what your were searching for.

You can also order the list by DATE, AUTHOR or TITLE.

Filtering your results

You can filter your search results by using the options down the left of the screen. This can help you refine your search by factors such as SOURCE TYPE, PUBLICATION DATE and SUBJECT AREA. Using filters can help you if your search is returning too many results, or if you want to be more precise.

Below we have run through some of the more prominent filters you may be using;

• FULL TEXT ONLINE. This will only give you results that you have full access too. Sometime you might get a result back that you can't access, or can only read the abstract etc. Choosing this filter will eliminate all these, saving you time clicking through to results that you can't use. 
• SCHOLARLY & PEER-REVIEW / PEER-REVIEW. These filters will limit your results to peer reviewed resources. Peer-reviewing means something has been evaluated and approved by other experts in the field, so you know it will be appropriate to use as a reference or source. SCHOLARLY & PEER-REVIEW will limit the resources to what we class as scholarly sources, which are usually ones with a research focus, such as journals.
• ITEM TYPE. This is where you can filter by source format. You can limit your results to, for example, just newspaper or journal articles. 
• PUBLICATION DATE. You can alter the date range between which your results will have been published. There is a sliding scale, a calendar option, or some pre-loaded options such as from the last 12 months. This can be particularly useful if you know the date something was published but maybe not the exact title, or if you are looking for more recent research.

Working with your results

Now that you have found some resources to use, you'll want to be able to use them for your work. Discover@Bolton has a few options for you. You can SAVE, EXPORT and EMAIL your search results to yourself straight from the results page. We also have a REFERENCING tool that can generate a reference for you to use.

These options are all found just to the right of your results.

Permanent Link - Generate a permanent link to the resource. You can copy this and email it yourself, add it to a document etc.

Cite This Item - Generates a reference for the resource; you can choose between different referencing styles to generate the right reference for use in your course. You can either copy paste the reference, or you have the option to print it.

Email This Item - Send the resource via email to yourself or someone else. You can also add a message to the email. This option is particularly useful for group work.

Save This Item - Saves a list of resources. Click on the icon and the resource will be added to the folder at the top right of the page. Click into it to see a full list of what you have saved. You can then email the list, or export it to a selection of locations. You can email or export up to 50 items at a time. NOTE - This list will not save permanently to your account; it will delete if you close the tab, or after 20 minutes of inactivity.

More Actions - You can export the resource to a variety of locations.

Top Tip: You can also save your search results by clicking on the star icon next to your search when entering it. When you click on the star icon it will give you an option to Save current search and filters and then the option to send your results to a Microsoft or Google account.