Search Tips

Check Spelling

Make sure that 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. (Keep in mind, relevant results are returned even if they don't contain all query terms)

Use similar Words

The more similar words that you use in a search, the more relevant results you will get back. (i.e. safe secure private)

Use Appropriate Capitalization

Capitalize proper nouns.  Lowercase words will match any case, but capitalized query terms will match only capitalized words.

Use Quotation Marks

Use quotation marks for words that must appear adjacent to each other.  For example, board meeting will produce different results than "board meeting".  Note:  if the radio buttons for "all" or "phrase" are checked, quotes are ignored.

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 from the search results.

Use Wildcards

Wildcard searches can expand the number of matches for a particular request.  The * (asterisk) character is used as the wildcard character.  For instance, searching for wh* will find the words what, why, when, whether, and any other word that starts with wh.   Searching for *her* will find here, teachers,  weather, together, gathering, and any other word that contains her anywhere in the word.