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To get more specific search results, try using the following techniques.
Check spelling
Make sure your search terms are spelled correctly. If Sound-Alike Matching is turned on, the search engine will attempt to find words that sound similar to 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. For example, typing assistive technology will return more relevant results than typing only technology. (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. For example, circulation borrowing "check out" will produce more thorough and relevant results than check out.
Use appropriate capitalization
Capitalize proper nouns, and remember that lower-case words will match any case. For example, typing search will return all documents containing the words search, Search, and SEARCH. Typing Search, however, will instruct the search engine to look only for the capitalized word. For example, Legacy will return items regarding the Legacy campus more directly than legacy.
Use quotation marks
Use wildcards
Wildcard searches can expand the number of matches for a particular request. The * character is used as the wildcard character. For instance, searching for biog* will find the words biography, biographies, biographical and any other word that starts with biog. Searching for *chem* will find the words chemistry, biochemistry, chemist, microchemical, and any other word that contains chem anywhere in the word.
Wildcards may be combined with the standard plus (+) and minus (-) modifiers, quotes for phrases, as well as the field search specifiers.
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.
Note: if you are using the Advanced Search Form with radio buttons for "any," "all," and "phrase," then plus and minus can only be used when the "any" radio button is selected. Plus and minus are ignored if the Advanced Search Form "all" or "phrase" radio button is selected.
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