The Search Function and Use Tips

Search, Research, Stretch for More

Search Tips (Important help here!)
Library Searches

Web Searches

@Forum Searches

Search Specialized Lists (@ccess-related)
Electronic Research Shelf

Search Tips

By default the search engine tries to locate pages which have exact matches for all of the words entered in your search query. If that fails, it then tries to locate pages which contain any words in your search query. If that happens a short message is displayed at the top of the search results indicating this has been done. In addition, there are several ways to modify the default search behavior.

Phrase search
The search engine supports three types of phrase search.

To match an exact phrase, use quotes around the phrase - Example: "free search engine"
To match a near (within a couple of words) phrase, use square brackets [around the words] - Example: [free search engine]
To match a far (within several words) phrase, use braces { around the words } - Example: {free search engine}

+ and - qualifiers

If you prepend a word with +. Then that word is required to be on the page.

If you prepend a word with -. Then that word is required to not be on the page.

Example: +always -never

Wildcards

* wildcard: If a query word ends with a * all words on a page which start the same way as that query word will match. Example: gift*

? wildcard: If a query word contains a ? any character will match that position. Example: b?g

Boolean search

You can use the following boolean operators in your search: AND, OR, NOT. These operators MUST be in capital letters.
Example: (contact AND us) OR (about AND us)

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.

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.

Library and Files/Media Searches

There are a growing number of documents, files and links which are freely at the service of those who come into The Commons. If you are looking for an author, title or key word, the following should be of help.

World Forum Searches (YahooGroups)

A significant portion of the content of The Commons is lodged in the several dozen World "Fora" or cafes, each of which provides some important service functions for the program in question (Library, Links & Media, Message Center, Calendar, etc.). In an ideal world these contents would also be searchable with a single key stroke at the same time as the rest. Eventually we will probably get there on The Commons, but we are not there yet.

Thus, for accessing information that our Search engine digs up from YahooGroups, a two, eventually three, step process is involved. The first is to place your key word or string into the search box on the menu. This will then, if the results are positive, generate a list of reference pages. In the event that one of these is an eGroups page, you may next have to go into a second Search box on that page, once you call it up, to place your key word(s) once again. With that, you should have the final short list you are looking for.

Is this an ideal situation? Not by a long shot? But it's one that we have learned to work with and use to good advantage and we hope that you will find it a help as well.

Additional Tip Each Forum (YahooGroups) 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 search term, which will then query all eGroups and not just our dedicated fora. Still, it can be handy and yield some useful surprises and perhaps unexpected insights.

The following search functions have been integrated here in support of the @ccess program and its many sites. We find them extrenely useful.