Focus
As a general rule, a retrieval set of 10-30 articles is ideal. Fewer and we must question the scope of coverage in the literature, or usefulness of the search strategy (terms, syntax) for identifying literature on that topic. More than 30 hits and you may not have time to evaluate the results. Many more and your topic is too broad to manage in a typical assignment.
Database Filters and Limits
In EBSChost databases, such as Education Research Complete, you can narrow search results with "Refine your results" to "Scholarly (Peer Reviewed Journals)."
"Academic" and "scholarly" are general terms meaning that the authors are professors or researchers. The article will indicate the authors' names and affiliations (where they work or which organizations supported their research).
"Peer-reviewed" books and articles are vetted by experts who assess the quality of the research and validity of the results based on their knowledge of the subject or methodology.
Use publication dates and geographic limits (such as "United States") to further narrow a search, as illustrated on the previous tab.
Librarians recommend that you avoid limiting results to "full text." Find it @Averett allows you to link out from citations in one database to full text in another -- or to an interlibrary loan request. Limiting to full text means that you will never see those citations.
To broaden a search when you find only a handful of sources, search synonyms with the Boolean OR to capture other ways of expressing the same concept ("elementary grade" OR "elementary school"). Try removing a concept or use a more general term to increase the number of database hits. Browse the articles you retrieve for additional ideas. Link from subject terms in the full record display related terms in other articles.
Truncation is another way to broaden your search results. Add the truncation symbol specified in database help pages to the root of a word. The symbol is usually * (asterisk) but sometimes $, ?, !, or #. For example, child* retrieves child, children, childhood.
To narrow a search, "AND" concepts in your topic sentence together to ensure that all results cover multiple aspects ("comprehension" AND "understanding"). Try the Boolean "NOT" to remove results that are getting in your way (child NOT abuse).
Sources may sort by relevance. You can change the sort to display results in order from newest to oldest. Use date limits for more specific retrieval of sources published during a particular time period, for example since 2010.