QuertweetThe X search cookbook

Chapter 6 · 7 recipes

Research quotes: X search recipes

Firsthand accounts, expert posts with sources, journalist requests and the most-shared posts in a date window.

Chapter notes

Writers, students and researchers use X search to find real voices on a topic: a nurse describing a shift, an engineer explaining a failure, a scientist linking their new paper. These recipes are built to find posts worth quoting and to make them easy to verify.

Firsthand accounts often start with "in my experience" or "as a", and filtering out links and replies keeps them personal. For sourced takes, the reverse works: require a link and words like "study" or "paper". The date-window recipe uses since: and until: together. since: includes its date and until: stops before its date, so to cover all of March you would use until: with April 1.

Before you quote a post, confirm the account is who it claims to be, keep a screenshot and the post URL, and ask permission when the person is not a public figure. Posts get deleted, so save what you cite.

The recipes

6.1

Firsthand experiences

Personal accounts, not shares of articles. A few likes means someone found it credible.

Fill in

"heat pumps" ("in my experience" OR "I've been" OR "as a") -filter:links -filter:replies min_faves:10
Open on X (Top)
What each part does
"[topic]"
Your topic, in quotes so a multi-word value is matched as one phrase.
("in my experience" OR "I've been" OR "as a")
Any one of these is enough: "in my experience", "I've been", "as a". OR has to be written in capitals.
-filter:links
Removes posts that contain a link.
-filter:replies
Removes replies.
min_faves:10
At least 10 likes. The operator keeps Twitter's old name for likes. Large counts are approximate.
6.2

Sourced posts that cite a study

Requires a link and research words. Open the link and cite the study, not the post.

Fill in

"heat pumps" (study OR paper OR research) filter:links min_retweets:10
Open on X (Top)
What each part does
"[topic]"
Your topic, in quotes so a multi-word value is matched as one phrase.
(study OR paper OR research)
Any one of these is enough: study, paper, research. OR has to be written in capitals.
filter:links
Keeps only posts that contain a link.
min_retweets:10
At least 10 reposts. The operator keeps Twitter's old name for reposts. Large counts are approximate.
6.3

Journalist requests on a topic

Reporters looking for sources. Useful if you are an expert, and for seeing what reporters are working on.

Fill in

(#journorequest OR "journalist request" OR "looking to speak") "heat pumps"
Open on X (Latest)
What each part does
(#journorequest OR "journalist request" OR "looking to speak")
Any one of these is enough: #journorequest, "journalist request", "looking to speak". OR has to be written in capitals.
"[topic]"
Your topic, in quotes so a multi-word value is matched as one phrase.
6.4

Everything one account said on a topic

Check what someone actually said before you quote or paraphrase them.

Fill in

from:officialaccount "heat pumps"
Open on X (Latest)
What each part does
from:[account]
Only posts written by [account handle]. Type the handle without the @.
"[topic]"
Your topic, in quotes so a multi-word value is matched as one phrase.
6.5

Most-shared posts in a date window

since: is inclusive, until: stops before its date. Good for what people said when something happened.

Fill in

"heat pumps" since:YYYY-MM-DD until:YYYY-MM-DD min_retweets:100
Open on X (Top)
What each part does
"[topic]"
Your topic, in quotes so a multi-word value is matched as one phrase.
since:[date]
Posts from this date onward (the date itself is included).
until:[date2]
Posts before this date (the date itself is not included).
min_retweets:100
At least 100 reposts. The operator keeps Twitter's old name for reposts. Large counts are approximate.
6.6

Quote posts of one post

Reactions that quote a specific post. Community-documented operator; if it returns nothing, search the post URL instead.

Fill in

quoted_tweet_id:POST_ID
Open on X (Latest)
What each part does
quoted_tweet_id:[post]
Quote posts of one post, by the number at the end of its URL. Not in X's help pages.
6.7

Charts and data on a topic

Posts with an image and data words. Trace each chart back to its original source before using it.

Fill in

"heat pumps" (chart OR graph OR data) filter:images min_faves:50
Open on X (Top)
What each part does
"[topic]"
Your topic, in quotes so a multi-word value is matched as one phrase.
(chart OR graph OR data)
Any one of these is enough: chart, graph, data. OR has to be written in capitals.
filter:images
Keeps only posts with an image.
min_faves:50
At least 50 likes. The operator keeps Twitter's old name for likes. Large counts are approximate.

More chapters

  1. 1 Job posts
  2. 2 Leads asking for recommendations
  3. 3 Customer complaints
  4. 4 Local events
  5. 5 Giveaways and contests
  6. 7 News from verified sources
  7. 8 Questions in your niche
  8. 9 Brand mentions and feedback
  9. 10 Content ideas
  10. 11 Tutorials and resources

New to the operators? Read X search operators, explained. All 71 recipes are also on the home page, where you can filter them and save favorites.