Search tips

From National Research Council Canada

When starting a search, think about using features that enhance the efficiency of your search and help you find the specific content you need. The system automatically detects all forms and variations of the words you enter. Generally, there is no need for wildcards or truncation. The search results will include items containing all the words, regardless of their order or location within the record.

Below are tips to help you conduct effective searches.

Wildcards

The asterisk (*) acts as a wildcard, replacing one or more characters in a word. It helps you find different forms or spellings of words. You can place it at the beginning, the middle or the end of a word.

At the beginning of a word

Example

*second

Finds words that end with "second" (e.g., nanosecond, femtosecond).

At the end of a word

Example

surg*

Finds words that start with "surg" (e.g., surge, surgery, surgeon). To maintain relevance, avoid excessive shortening to the end of the word.

In the middle of a word

Example

p*diatric

Finds words with different spellings (e.g., pediatric and paediatric).

In the middle and at the end of a word

Example

r*nforc*

Finds words that begin with "r", followed by any characters, then "nforc", and ends with any characters (e.g., reinforce, reinforced, reinforcement, renforce, renforcement).

In a name

Example

Ton*That

Finds names with or without a hyphen (e.g., "Ton-That" or "Ton That").

Phrases

A phrase search generates results in the exact order you type the phrase. It is useful when you are looking for a specific term, name, or title. To make a phrase search, add quotation marks around your search terms.

Example 1

"layer surface"

Finds results with the exact terms "layer surface" and not "surface layer".

Example 2

"arrow 2"

Finds results with this exact phrase, making your search more accurate.

Advanced Search

The advanced search allows you to use multiple search boxes to narrow down your results.

All of these words

Example

All of these words: water trace metals

Finds results that include all the words you type, plus their variations.

Any of these words

Example

Any of these words: spectrometer, spectromètre, espectrómetro

Finds results that have at least one of the words you type. This function is helpful for different languages.

None of these words

Example

All of these words: herzberg

None of these words: letter speech

Excludes results that have the words you type. Finds items with "herzberg" but not "letter" nor "speech".

Year

Finds results published in the year or range of years you choose.

Example 1

From: 2015 To: 2020

Finds results published between 2015 and 2020.

Example 2

From: 2018

Finds results published from 2018 onward.

Example 3

To: 2016

Finds results published from 2016 or earlier.

Are you looking for items in a specific collection? The advanced search is useful for selecting one or more specific collections to be searched.

Filters

Filters on the search results page can help you to narrow your results.

To use filters:

  1. On the results page, find Filter your results
  2. Select the filters you need.
  3. Click Apply Filters to update your results.
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