Quick Limit Option
Use the Quick Limit in the Basic search to apply a single, commonly used limit to title, journal title, keywords, and other searches. The quick limit works only with those searches marked with an asterisk.
To find items about athletes and steroids that have been published in the last five years:
- Type
athletes and steroids
- Select Keywords from the Search By: dropdown menu
- Select Last 5 Years from the Quick Limit dropdown menu
When viewing results, you may change this limit, if you wish, and click on the Search button to redo your search.
The limit is maintained for all subsequent searches until you select None from the Limit to: dropdown menu.
Set Limits and Limit Results Buttons
The Set Limits option offers more limits than the Quick Limit dropdown menu. You may restrict searches to specific years, languages, types of materials or locations within the UW-Madison Libraries.
Click the Set Limits button before you type your search.
Tips:
- You will know that search limits are in effect when you see the Clear Limits button and the message Search limits are in effect.
- In the Basic Search, limits may be set for all searches except Author, Subject and Call Number. You can limit Author and Subject searches using the Guided search.
You may set limits after a search by clicking the Limit Results button on the results screen. Limit Results offers the same limiting options as Set Limits.
Set Limits Page
Limiting by Date
- To limit to works published in a single year, enter the year in the box:
2006
- To limit to works published after a certain year, enter the year in the box and click the radio button to the left of the >.
- To limit to works published before a certain year, enter the year in the box and click the radio button to the left of the <.
- To limit to works published within a range of years, click the Range radio button and enter the beginning year in the first box and the ending year in the second box.
Limiting by Place of Publication
For countries listed twice in the menu, or for countries that are listed twice with minor name changes, the use both message in the dropdown menu prompts you to select both so that you retrieve all of the publications from that country. After selecting the first country, hold down the Shift key and click on the next one.
Other Limits and More Information
To limit by language, type of material, location, or publication status click on the dropdown menus and select the appropriate criteria.
You can limit by combining categories (for example, language and date).
You can select multiple limits within one category (for example, English or French language) by holding down the Control key and clicking on each limit.
Click the Set Limits button at the bottom of the page to activate your limits. Search limits will remain in effect until you clear them using the Clear Limits button.