Refining a Search or Browse

If the number of search or browse results is large, you can refine it by:

Revising the search string using Boolean operators. For example, if you originally searched for plants, you can refine the search by adding the string +Massachusetts to display results with the words plants and Massachusetts. By adding more terms in this manner you can restrict many items that would otherwise appear. For example, the string plants +Massachusetts +Boston will show only items with all three terms.
Excluding a term you do not want to consider using the minus (-) sign. For example, if you are not interested in annuals, you can use the string plants -annuals. When combined with the plus sign you can create very powerful search strings. For example, plants +Massachusetts +Boston -annuals yields items with the first three terms but not the fourth.

Important: If you want to use the hyphen as the minus sign operator, do not include a space between the minus and the excluded term, for example -annuals.

Using the breadcrumb in the results area.

The breadcrumb shows the search, browse, and filters selected to yield the current set of results. You can undo one or more selections. For example, if you applied a resource type filter to a search, you can clear the filter by selecting the search term in the breadcrumb.

Filtering the results using the filter tools under the Search field.

Using these tools, you filter out any resources you do not want to view in the results. Pearson Class Preparation tool provides the following ways to filter out resources:

By resource type – lets you filter out from the results specific items using library-defined resource types or groupings. For example, if you select a resource type called Handouts to filter by, items in all other resource types are removed from the results.

By rating – lets you narrow the results to a specific range of average ratings.

Notes

You can set a media or average rating filter before or after you search; you do not have to search and then filter. You can also filter and then search.
You cannot set a filter before you browse. Browsing always resets the current filters and shows the set of results.
You can apply multiple filters simultaneously.