Search, Research, Stretch for More

  • Search Engines
  • Search Specialised Lists
  • Search Tips (Important help here!)
  • Electronic Research Shelf

    While this page does no more than assemble a handful of available utilities, it also serves as a window on the expanding world of information which today lies at our finger tips. All it takes is an ounce of patience and a bit of preparatory thoughtfulness. To perform a search of text that appears anywhere on this site, type the word(s) or phrase you are looking for into this search box. The more precise you are, the more targeted will be your results. To get more specific search results, please consult the Search Tips that follow.

    Search ...

    1. Search @cccess on the Web: The following searches all @ccess sites under The Commons.


    This next search engine has been aimed at some of the most relevent and interesting discussion lists covering these topics.

    2. Search The Commons: Here you can quickly search for anything that occurs in any other sites of The Commons (exclusinve of @ccess sites).


    3. @Forum Search: The @Forum (eGroups) has its own Search Engine, which can identify entries that appear anywhere on the global site via names, words and strings. This is a two-step manipulation, requiring that you first click below and THEN type in your seach term, which will then query all eGroups and not just our dedicated fora. Still, it can be handy and yeild some useful surprises and perhaps unexpected insights.

    4. Web Searches: And if that doesn't give satisfaction, try here to search the whole Web for your term. (Note: If Google, our preferred first engine, can't handle it, go to the bottom of the called up page where you will see the full array of other search vehicles. Or try our Electronic Reference Shelf. )

    5. Encyclopaedia Search: This search will take you to the Encyclopaedia Britannica and beyond as you require.

      

    5. Electronic Reference Shelf To take your research further, you may find it useful to check out the Electronic Reference Shelf here.


  • Please note that each site under The Commons has its own dedicated Search engine, not all of the contents of which are covered by the global searches.

    • Search Specialized Sources and Lists
    European Local Transport Information Service
    • Sustainable Transport Action Network for Asia & the Pacific
    The Universities' Transport Study Group
    Fast engine for indexing and searching many text files.
    Yahoo

    Search Tips

    Check spelling
    Make sure your search terms are spelled correctly. The search engine will attempt to find words that sound similar your search terms, but it is always best to try to spell the search terms correctly.

    Use multiple words
    Use multiple words when performing your search. The search results will return more refined results from several words than from a single word. (Keep in mind, relevant results are returned even if they don't contain all query terms.)

    Use similar words
    The more similar words you use in a search, the more relevant results you will get back.

    Use appropriate capitalization
    Capitalize proper nouns. Lowercase words will match any case. For example, typing "search" will return all documents containing the words "search, Search," and "SEARCH". However, typing "Search" will only search for pages where the word appears in this exact form.

    Use quotation marks
    Use quotation marks to find words which must appear adjacent to each other, for example, "our pledge to you". Otherwise, the search results will include all documents that contain the word "our", "pledge", "to", and the word "you", but not necessarily in that order. The words may appear anywhere, and in any order, within the document.

    Use plus (+) or minus (-)
    Use a plus sign when your search term or phrase must appear in the search results. Use a minus sign to indicate undesirable term(s). The plus sign tells the search engine that a certain word or phrase is required in the search results, and a minus sign indicates that a word or phrase must be absent in the search results.

    Note: A phrase must be contained within quotation marks. Leave no spaces between the plus or minus sign and the term.

    Example:

    (try it)

    Use field searches
    Field searches allow you to create specific for words that appear in a specific part of a document. A field search can be performed on body text (body:), title text (title:), alt text (alt:), meta description (desc:), meta key words (keys:) or URL (url:). The field name should be in lowercase and immediately followed by a colon. There should be no spaces between the colon and the search term.

    Note: The field searches can only be followed by a word or phrase. Phrases must be contained within quotation marks.

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    Updated 20 December 1999