Using the Search Engine
This help file will provide information on how to make the best use of the search interface to query for information.
There are several ways to refine a search or query. You can include or exclude words, search for words in close proximity or for an exact phrase. Finally, you can nest your queries with parentheses "" to indicate the order in which the words and operators will be processed. You can use the following:
- Search with Boolean Operators (using AND, OR and NOT)
- Search for an Exact Phrase
- Search for Words in Close Proximity
- Search with Parenthesis " " to Nest Queries
Search with Boolean Operators
What are Boolean operators?
When one does a search in an electronic database, the term "boolean" refers to a system of logical thought developed by an English mathematician, George Boole. The operators are the words used to refine the search, e.g. "and", "or", "not"
It is possible to make a query in the search box to include or exclude a word with Boolean operators. This section introduces the three Boolean operators and provides examples of their usage.
Remember: You can combine operators to create more refined queries.
AND
Finds documents that contain all of the specified words or phrases.
writing AND essay
The AND operator allows you to make a query to reduce the number of search results by specifying words and phrases that must be found in the documents. Consequently, the more words you enter, the fewer results.
The software finds the documents that contain both "writing" and "essay". Because AND is the default operator, the following query would produce the same results:
writing essay
OR
Finds documents that contain at least one of the specified words or phrases.
writing OR essay
The OR operator is used when you want to broaden a search by including synonyms or related terms. With this operator, all of the documents must only contain one of the words or phrases specified in the query.
The software finds the documents that include either one of the two terms or both.
NOT
Excludes the documents that contain the specified word or phrase.
The NOT operator is used to remove from the search results the documents that contain the specified words or phrases. For example:
writing NOT essay
The search engine will find the documents that contain the word "writing" if they do not contain the word "essay".
Search for an Exact Phrase
If the words that you are searching for need to be considered as an exact phrase or, in other words, as a single expression, enclose them in quotation marks ("example"). Use this search mode if the word order is essential. The results must include or exclude the documents that contain the exact phrases specified in the search box of the Advanced Search page. For example:
"essay writing"
The software finds the documents in which "essay" immediately precedes "writing".
If the search terms had not been enclosed in quotation marks, the software would have found the documents that contain the two words in any order, and anywhere in the document.
Search for Words in Close Proximity
The NEAR operator allows you to find the documents that contain the query terms, but only if these words are close to one another (default value: at most 10 words). For example:
essay NEAR writing
The software finds the documents that include the words "essay", but only if they are found within 10 words of the word "writing", such as:
"Guide to writing essays in sections"
"How to decode an essay title to help when writing and examination questions"
It is also possible to parameterize the NEAR operator, or say how close the two words must be together.
meeting NEAR:2 board
In this case, the search engine finds the documents that contain the two search words but only if they are at most 2 words apart.
"Guide to writing essays in sections"
Remember: You can search for phrases and expressions—not just words—that are enclosed in quotation marks with this operator. For example:
"essay writing" NEAR "citing references"
Search with Parentheses to Nest Queries
Parentheses allow you to combine several search terms or phrases to create an elaborate search. For example, the following terms are used to find documents that refer to geographical maps of the Americas or Europe. In this case, use one of the following queries:
(essay OR report) AND "practical investigations"
(essay AND " practical investigations") OR (report AND " practical investigations")
Parentheses can be used to embed multiple usage of the OR operator. For example, instead of:
"practical investigations" AND report OR "practical investigations" AND essay
You can use parentheses to simplify and shorten the query, as illustrated hereafter:
"practical investigations" AND (report OR essay)
