Searching the Repository

Simple Search:

The simple search box appears in the top left hand corner of each page of the site with the exception of the submission form.

Enter your word or search term (in parenthesis " ") and select the magnifier icon to launch a simple search. This feature works best with phrases rather than single word searches.

You will find an additional simple search box on each community, sub-community, and collection home page. This search function allows you to carry out a simple search at the chosen level of hierarchy or any level below.

Search terms entered in the simple search box will be searched against all indexed metadata fields in every item record; as well as the attached files when formatting allows.

This search feature will not search for matches in the static html pages housed on the repository's website for information purposes. For example, matches on this page will not appear in search results.

Advanced Search:

Under the simple search box is a link to the advanced search page. The advanced search allows you to specify the metadata fields you wish to search, and to combine these searches with the Boolean “AND”, “OR” or “NOT”. You can search across the entire repository, or restrict your search to a community or collection using the top drop-down menu. Select the field to search in the left hand column and enter the word or phrase you are searching for in the right hand column. You can select the Boolean operator to combine searches by clicking on the arrow to the right of the “AND” box.

Note: You must use the input boxes in order. If you leave the first one blank, your search will not work.

Search Tips:

1. What is not searched- The search engine ignores certain words that occur frequently in English, but do not add value to the search. These are: “a,” “and,” “are,” “as,” “at,” “be,” “but,” “by,” “for,” “if,” “in,” “into,” “is,” it,” “no,” “not,” “of,” “on,” “or,” “such,” “the,” “to,” “was” 
2. Truncation -  Use an asterisk (*) after a word stem to get all hits having words starting with that root. For example using the following term followed by an asterisk:
   
   Ambul*
   
   will retrieve items containing the words: ambulatory, ambulating, ambulance, ambulator, etc.
3. Stemming - The search engine automatically expands words with common endings to include plurals, past tenses, etc. 
4. Phrase searching  - To search using multiple words as a phrase, put quotation marks (“ “) around the phrase, for example entering: “organizational change” - will find items containing this exact phrase. 
5. Eliminate items with unwanted words - Put a minus (-) sign before a word if it should not appear in the search results. Alternatively, you can use the Boolean operator NOT. This can limit your search to eliminate unwanted hits. For instance, in the search:
   
   dementia -Alzheimer's or dementia NOT Alzheimer's
   
   you will get items containing the word "dementia," except those that also contain the word "Alzheimer's."
6. Required words - Put a plus (+) sign before a word if it must appear in the search result. For instance, if the word “mentoring” is optional, but the word “peer-to-peer” must be in the result you would use:
   
   +peer-to-peer mentoring
7. Boolean searching - The following Boolean operators can be used to combine terms: AND, OR, and NOT. Note that they must be capitalized as shown in order to function appropriately.
   
   Use the word “AND” to limit searches to find items containing all words or phrases combined with this operator. For example typing the text exactly as shown below:
   
   nurses AND midwives
   
   will retrieve all items that contain both the words "nurses" and "midwives."
   
   Use the word “OR” to enlarge searches to find items containing any of the words or phrases surrounding this operator. For example typing the text exactly as shown below:
   
   nurses OR midwives
   
   will retrieve all items that contain either the words "nurses" or "midwives."
   
   Use the word "NOT" to exclude items containing the word following this operator. For example, typing the text exactly as shown below:
   
   nurses NOT midwives
   
   will retrieve all items that contain the word "nurses" except those also containing the word "midwives."
   
   Parentheses can be used in the search query to group search terms into sets, and operators can then be applied to the whole set. For example, typing the text exactly as shown below:
   
   (nurses OR midwives) AND (training OR education)
   
   will retrieve all items that contain the words "nurses" or "midwives" and the words "training" or "education."

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