Content Search

The text entered in the document content search box may be keywords (words that represent the subject content of the document), a Boolean expression, or even natural language. One of the great strengths of the LSN search engine is its natural language searching. A natural language query involves entering a phrase or phrases describing the document the user is interested in finding. Providing as much description in the query text as possible focuses the search and will yield the most relevant results. Common words such as a, and, as, or the don’t have to be included, as they are usually insignificant to the query. For example, the query Yucca Mountain Project will produce the same results as The Yucca Mountain Project.

Boolean Searches

A Boolean search can be used to link two or more searches together. The query operators for Boolean searches include OR, AND, and NOT. They must be in uppercase letters. Parentheses can be used to group expressions in the query.

The operators and their uses are as follows:

AND will return all documents that contain the words specified in the search box. For example, entering tuff AND water will return all documents that contain both the words tuff and water.

OR will return all documents that contain at least one of the words specified in the search box. For example, entering tuff OR water will return documents that contain the word tuff, the word water, or both. By default, the search engine automatically assumes the multiple words entered in the search box are OR'd, so tuff OR water is equal to tuff water. In other words, OR need not explicitly be used; the search engine assumes it is there.

NOT will return all documents that contain the first word entered in the search box but not the second word entered. For example, entering tuff NOT water will return documents that contain the word tuff but not the word water.

Combined Query Operators

Search operators can be combined to enhance a search. In these cases, the words or word strings must be enclosed in parentheses. For example, (water OR tuff) AND (mountain AND repository) will return all documents meeting the two separate search criteria enclosed in parentheses. The result will be a list of all documents that contain the word mountain and the word repository, and either the word tuff, the word water, or both tuff and water.

Exact Phrase

Entering a query with double quotes around the words will result in a list containing only those items which contain the exact phrase (including spacing) specified. For example, entering "Environmental Impact Statement for the Geologic Repository Operations Area" will search for that exact string. The same string without the quotation marks will return a list of all documents that contain any of the words environmental, impact, statement, geologic, repository, operations, or area (which will be a much longer list).

Proximity

Proximity queries seek the documents that contain the search terms by default within ten words of each other. The NEAR operator is used and it must be in uppercase. For example, entering Spencer NEAR Abraham results in documents that contain the word Spencer within ten words of the word Abraham. A user can also adjust this range, for example Spencer NEAR4 Abraham will return results for all documents that contain the word Spencer within four words of Abraham.

Wildcards

Wildcards can be used to aid in searching when a user does not precisely know how to spell a word or is looking for similarities. An asterisk is used to replace any set of unknown letters in a search term. For example, entering Cal* would return any documents with words beginning Cal. This would include Calcite, calculate, calibrate, etc.
A question mark can also be used to replace a single unknown character. For example, D?n would return documents beginning in D and ending in n, this would include Dan, Den, Don, etc.

Information Sources

Using specific information sources can also narrow a search. The LSN organizes its data in different databases. Each participant organization is a unique source of information. Selecting or deselecting the check box next to an organization will result in a narrower or broader search, as only relevant sources/databases are searched. By default, all participant databases are searched.