Stem Searching
By default, the search looks for a word and all stemmed variations.
When searching for nurse, you will find nurse, nurses, nursing.
To search for nurse without any variations, place the search word in quotes "nurse".
Phrase Searching
A phrase is a grouping of two or more words that occur next to each other in a specific order.
To find a phrase without any variations of the words, enclose the phrase in quotes.
This returns results containing both professional and nurse, only in the order specified - professional and then nurse, with no variations of the words.
To find a phrase including variations, do not enclose the phrase in quotes.
This returns results containing the phrase, plus variations. These may include nursing professionals and/or Professional Nurses.
Using Search Operators
Search operators are keywords used to assist in filtering results. They include, AND, OR, NOT, AND NOT, W/N, NOT W/N, and * (wildcard).
To search for the actual word and (or any other operator), include ~ after the operator.
In this example, and is part of the phrase.
In this example, and is a search operator and will not be treated as part of the phrase.
AND
The AND operator is used to narrow your search. The search engine will find results that contain all search terms.
Searching forest fire returns all instances and stemmed variations of the phrase. These may include forest fires and/or Forest fire.
Searching forest AND fire returns results containing forest and fire (and their stemmed variations), regardless of the location of the words in relation to each other.
Additionally, multiple uses of the AND operator will further narrow your search.
OR
The OR operator returns results containing at least one of your search words or phrases.
Each result contains either the word lawyer or physician (or both).
NOT and AND NOT
The NOT operator is used to exclude results that contain a word or phrase.
This returns results that do not include the word commonwealth.
This returns results containing the word bank but not those that include the word river. This would be useful searching for results where the word bank refers to a financial institution and not a river bank.
W/N and NOT W/N
The W/N operator specifies one word or phrase must occur within N words of the other.
The NOT W/N (not within) operator searches a word or phrase not in association with another word or phrase.
This search contains results for nursing and organizations where organizations occurs within 10 words of nursing.
This search contains results for nursing but do not have the word organizations within 10 words of nursing.
Wildcard Operator *
The * finds various versions of words. With the * operator, you define part of a word and then use the asterisk character.
For results with words starting with administ you would enter the following:
This returns results with administrative, administration, and/or administered.
The * wildcard character can also be used in the beginning or middle of a word.