Search Terms and Tricks
How To Search: Type words that you want to search for into the entry box, then click [ Find! ].Any Word:
Type one or more words to find any of the words. [ Find ANY ] is the usual default.
All Words:
Type more than one word and select [ Find ALL ] to find all of the words. (If the drop down box doesn't seem to work or is missing - use the Booleans, see below).
Exact Phrase: "..."
You can search for exact phrases by surrounding them in double quotes. Or you can type the words and select [ Find EXACT phrase ]. Punctuation must be the same to be found between words, for example "Smith, John". [ Punctuation is not needed and no longer affects most searches. ]
Boolean Operators: + -
Use + in front of each word or a quoted phrase that you require.
Use - in front of each word that you want to exclude.
Boolean Expressions: AND OR NOT ( )
Use AND, OR, NOT, (, and ) to form a Boolean expression. AND requires, OR allows, NOT excludes.
Use double quotes to protect the words "and", "or", or "not" in a phrase.
Examples:
| Query | Gets the documents with |
| davis cemetery | 'davis' or 'cemetery' or both |
| "davis cemetery" | the exact phrase 'davis cemetery' |
| +davis +cemetery | 'davis' and 'cemetery' |
| +davis -cemetery | 'davis' but not 'cemetery' |
| +moore -"davis cemetery" | 'moore' but not 'Davis Cemetery' |
| (davis OR cemetery) AND NOT moore | 'davis' or 'cemetery', and without 'moore' |
Capitalization doesn't matter. The ranked results will come from a total match on the words and phrases which you supply, so try to think of several specific terms for your topic and spell them correctly.