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Help Overview

Search Fields (All Fields with Text dropdown)

All Fields (w/ text) - the default - All fields, including the full text of the article. A very broad search; for best results use distinctive terms.

All Fields except Text - All Fields except for the article text. Useful field to start with; general search but narrower than with the text of the article.

(All fields include all the search fields listed in the pull-down, as well as volume number, issue number, first and last page numbers, type of article (article or review), ISSN (electronic version), and abstract if available.)

Article Text - The text of the article.

Article Author - Authors of MUSE articles or reviews.

Article Title - Title of MUSE article.

Subject Headings - Subjects of articles using Library of Congress Subject Headings.

Journal Title - Title of MUSE journals.

Author reviewed - Authors and editors of books reviewed in MUSE, as well as playwrights and directors of performances reviewed or artists of exhibitions reviewed.

Title reviewed - Titles of works (books, exhibitions, plays, films) reviewed in MUSE journals.

By Journal

You can limit your search by individual journal title(s). To limit your search to specific titles, select from the list. Make multiple selections or "de-select" a selection by holding down the control or command key.

Note: If you are not from a subscribing institution, you will automatically see just the lists of all MUSE titles and the disciplines. You can search all or parts of the database, but no full-text will be available unless you have password access, e.g. association membership. Read Journals Included in Search for more information.

By Discipline

You can limit your search by discipline group(s). To limit your search to a specific discipline or to multiple disciplines, select from the list. Make multiple selections or "de-select" a selection by holding down the control or command key.

Article Language

You can limit your search to articles written in a language other than English. While the majority of articles in MUSE are written in English, you may search for articles in other languages by selecting from the pulldown list. Make multiple selections or "de-select" a selection by holding down the control or command key.

Type of Content

Check the appropriate box or boxes to limit your search to Articles Only, Reviews Only, or types of literary works. Articles make up approximately 57% of MUSE and include articles, editorials, commentaries, works of fiction, drama and poetry. Reviews are approximately 43% of content, which include book, film, exhibition, performance reviews, etc.

Only content I have Full Access to

You can limit your search to include only the journals to which your institution subscribes. To apply this limit, check the box for 'Only Content I have Full Access to.' When this box is not checked, your search will include all MUSE journals and the search results may include articles for which your institution does not have access to the full text. In those instances, please see your librarian for assistance with obtaining the articles.

Include JSTOR back issues

Check this box to search for both MUSE and JSTOR articles simultaneously. MUSE provides links to articles from the back issues archived in JSTOR for some of the journal titles common to Project MUSE and JSTOR (www.jstor.org). If your institution subscribes to JSTOR, you may be able to retrieve full-text JSTOR articles when searching in MUSE.

For JSTOR articles, the database will search for terms in the citation information only (title, author, abstract). It will not search within the full-text of JSTOR articles.

To search within specific journal titles for which MUSE provides links to JSTOR back issues, use the "By Journal" limit.

If your institution does not have a full subscription to Project MUSE, you can still search all MUSE titles and any JSTOR back issues available. Your search will automatically include all MUSE journals. Make sure you do not check the 'Only content I have Full Access to' limit.

By Year

Enter a 4 digit year in each box to set a range of dates to search. (i.e. Enter 2003 in 'From' and 2006 in 'To' to search for articles published between 2003 and 2006.) Enter a year in the top box only to specify that year forward. (i.e. 2005 in the 'From' box to retrieve articles published in 2005 onward.) Enter the same year in both boxes to specify that year only. (i.e. 2007 in 'From' and 2007 in 'To' will limit your search to articles published in 2007.)

Sort Results by

Sort 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.

Note: Ranking is especially useful for searching for topics or subjects across the full-text ('all fields w/ text' or 'full-text' in the fields pull-down). Keep in mind, however, that "relevance" is calculated by software and is not fool-proof. Please use relevancy ranking as a general guide. If needed, see Refining or Narrowing Results to get a smaller, more focused results set.

Sort By: Date
Selecting Date, Latest First puts results in order by publication date starting from the most recent results.
Selecting Date, Earliest First puts results in order by publication date starting from the most recent results.
MUSE contains articles from as early as 1993 or 1995, but the majority of articles are from 2000 onward.

Sort By: Journal
Selecting Journal, A-Z puts results in alphabetical order by journal title.
Selecting Journal, Z-A puts results in reverse alphabetical order by journal title.

Results per page

This box tells you how many results display per page. You can change the number of results displayed (10, 20, 50, 75, or 100) on a page.

See Also