Hoover Presidential Library - Student Teacher Info

HOW TO USE THE SEARCH ENGINE

Getting Started with Queries
Word Combination Operators
Word Operators
Field Operators
Using Modifiers
Rules for Adding Modifiers

Getting Started with Queries

Operators are special words used by Search products which indicate the search rule. You can search for any of the words or phrases in the text of the document or you can search for values in the field attributes associated with your documents. You use operators in your queries to search for:

Word combinations
Exact or similar word spellings
Expansions of words to lists of related words
A specific field value or a range of field values
Operators enable you to build more sophisticated queries so you can achieve more precise results.

Word Combination Operators

Word combination operators tell Search products how to search for combinations of words, phrases, or a word and a phrase:

<ACCRUE> at least one of the words entered must exist to create a match, and the more unique words found, the higher the score
<AND> all words must exist in each document to be considered a match
<OR> any one of the words can be found to create a match (at least one)
<PHRASE> the words must occur in the same order entered
<SENTENCE> the words must occur in the same sentence to match (any order)
<PARAGRAPH> the words must occur in the same paragraph to match (any order)
<NEAR/3> the words must occur within three words (or any number entered) to be considered a match
<NEAR> the words must occur in the same document and the closer the proximity (any order), the higher the score
<ALL> all of the words must exist
<ANY> any of the words can exist.

To use the word combination operators, enter the first word or phrase, then the operator, then another word or phrase. Search will search for both the preceding and following word or phrase according to the operator rule.

Example: gorbachev <AND> yeltsin
Retrieves documents containing both "gorbachev" and "yeltsin".

Example: triangle <SENTENCE> bermuda
Retrieves documents containing "triangle" and "bermuda" in one sentence (in any order).

Example: vacuum cleaner <OR> eureka
Retrieves documents containing the phrase "vacuum cleaner" or the word "eureka".

Example: eureka <AND> vacuum cleaner
Searches for documents containing "eureka" and the phrase "vacuum cleaner".

You may use more than one of these operators in a query. Most operators require that you place angle brackets ( < > ) around the operator to clearly distinguish its meaning. Default operators and modifiers do not require that you add angle brackets; <AND> and <OR> are assumed to be operators and <NOT> is assumed to be a modifier when used.

We recommend keeping your operator combinations fairly simple. Simple combinations produce more predictable results, and ensure that Search will be able to read the combinations.

Here are some examples of operator combinations:

Example: cousteau <AND> whale <SENTENCE> spawning
Retrieves documents containing the word "cousteau" and a sentence including both "whale" and "spawning".

Example: poland <PARAGRAPH> walesa <AND> socialist
Retrieves documents containing "poland" and "walesa" in the same paragraph, and the word "socialist" anywhere

Example: president clinton <AND> no <SENTENCE> tax hike
Searches for documents containing "president clinton" and a sentence including the word "no" and the phrase "tax hike".

Example: dark <AND> dangerous <AND> deadly
Retrieves documents with all three words.

Note that it is generally easier to use the comma between search words if any one of them should be considered a match. Queries automatically search for any word occurrence when the words are separated by commas. Ransom <OR> Kidnapping <OR> hearst collect the same documents as ransom, kidnapping, hearst, but document scores can differ because the use of the comma specifies the <ACCRUE> operator. Accrue considers each word evidence of your subject, and gives documents a higher score when more evidence exists.

Word Operators

You can use these operators for a single word:

<WORD> find the exact spelling (no variations). You can also double quote the search word to indicate this rule.
<WORD>computer is the same as "computer" and both match specifically on this word with stemming
for other endings like computers, or computed.
<STEM> find all standard variant endings for the stem (this operator is Search's default search rule). You can also use a single quote to indicate this rule.
<WILDCARD> find all words with the string, including anything before or after the asterisk (*) or character (?), were the operator appears
<SOUNDEX> find all words that sound like this word
<TYPO> find all words that are spelled similarly

A word operator applies to the single word which immediately follows it. To use a word operator, enter the operator first, then the word.

For example:

<WORD> consistency
<WORD> darkness
<WORD> visible
<SOUNDEX> dance
<TYPO> sherbert

Search's default search rule is <STEM> (all standard variant endings for the stem). So you don't have to enter the <STEM> operator when you want a stem-based search.

With the <WILDCARD> operator, you must include an asterisk either at the start or end of the word where you want all other matches. For example:

Example: <WILDCARD> syncopat*
Retrieves "syncopation", "syncopate".

Example: <WILDCARD> *down
Retrieves "breakdown", "meltdown", "down".

You may combine word operators with word group operators.

Example: kidnap <AND> <WORD> ransom
Retrieves documents with "kidnap" ("kidnapping", "kidnapped") and "ransom".

Example: <WORD> violin <SENTENCE> play
Retrieves documents with a sentence containing both "violin" and "play" ("playing", "played") in any order.

Example: <WORD> fancy <AND> <WORD> hat
Retrieves documents containing both the words "fancy" and "hat" (this query would not retrieve a document containing only "fancy" and "hats").

Field Operators

You can use these operators with fields like DATE or AUTHOR:

= must be equal to the entered value
> must be greater than the entered value
>= must be equal to or greater than the entry
< must be less than the entry
<= must be equal to or less than the entry
<STARTS> must start with the entered value
<ENDS> must end with the entered value
<THROUGH> retrieve anything between the two values entered including those values
<CONTAINS> must contain the token entered
<MATCHES> matches a character string exactly
<SUBSTRING> must match the string anywhere

The fixed field operator must precede the search value.

For example:

<STARTS> wall
>= 4000
<ENDS> 91

Search's default search value for fields is <CONTAINS>. If you are looking for a field containing your value (and the field may have anything else in addition) you don't have to enter an operator.

When you use <THROUGH> to request a range of values, you enter both start and end values. You may enter <THROUGH> either at the beginning of the field, and list start and end values after (separate them with a space), or enter <THROUGH> between the start and end values.

Example: 01/15/89 <THROUGH> 09/15/91
Searches for documents dated January 15, 1989 through September 15, 1991.

Example: 01/01/91 <THROUGH> 09/30/91
Searches for documents dated January 1, 1991 through September 30, 1991.

Using Modifiers

Modifiers modify the operator search rule, generally adding an additional level of detail. Use them to increase the accuracy of your queries.

<CASE> Find exact upper/lowercase spelling as entered in the query
<MANY> count occurrences of this word or phrase in a document, and assign a slightly higher score for more occurrences based on the density of the document
<NOT> exclude documents with this word, phrase, or value (the <NOT> modifier will also retrieve all documents that do not contain the search value)

Rules for Adding Modifiers

A search word or value must have an operator in order to use a modifier. Since Search assumes an operator of <STEM> for words and <CONTAINS> for fixed field values, you can use a modifier by itself. Search assumes a default modifier of <MANY> for word searches. The modifier is placed directly in front of the word or operator.

You can use <CASE> with single words (with or without a word operator) or for fixed field values if the field accepts upper and/or lowercase letters combined. <MANY> can apply to single words and to phrases. <NOT> applies to any word, phrase or topic.

Example: <CASE> Japan
Retrieves documents with the word spelled "Japan".

Example: <MANY> wall street
Assigns slightly higher scores to documents using the phrase "wall street" many times.

Example: gorbachev <AND> <NOT> yeltsin
Retrieves documents with "gorbachev" excluding any which also contain "yeltsin".