Search Tips
This document answers several frequently asked questions about using the search feature of this CD.
Quick Tips
Here are some quick tips to get you started:
- Enter your search terms in lower case. The search engine will find both upper and lower case instances of your search term.
- Enclose terms in double quotation marks if you want the search engine to take them literally.
- Search for phrases by entering the words separated by spaces.
- Expand your searches by linking your search term with OR. The search engine will find pages that contain at least one of your search terms.
- Narrow your searches by linking your search terms with AND. The search engine will find pages that contain all of your search terms.
- Exclude pages that are not relevant to your search by preceding the search term with NOT.
What Is a Search?
A search is the organized pursuit of information. Somewhere in a collection of documents, email messages, Web pages, and other sources, there is information that you want to find, but you have no idea where it is. The Verity search engine gives you the means of finding that information.
You conduct a search by issuing a query, which is simply a way of asking a question that will find the information you are looking for. Searching is usually an iterative process. You submit a query and if the results list does not contain the information you are looking for, you refine the query until you locate a page that contains the answer.
Simple Searches
Simple searches are queries that consist of a single word or phrase. Examples of Simple Searches:
| Search Term | Finds Pages That Contain: |
|---|---|
| meet | The string meet and stemmed variations, such as meets and meeting |
| "meet" | The word meet |
| "S&L" | The strings S&L, S & L, and S L (always enclose words like S&L in double quotation marks) |
| <CASE> NOW | The string NOW in upper case |
| repetitive stress injury | The phrase repetitive stress injury |
| zoo* | Words beginning with the string zoo |
| fl??ss | Words beginning with fl and ending with ss with any two characters in between |