Searching the Database

Basic Search: Searches the title, author, and publication series and report number fields in the database. You can enter multiple search parameters into this text box from either the title and/or the author fields.  Operators are not required.

Advanced Search: You may fill in search criteria in any of the search boxes, however, you do not have to fill in every search box. Leaving a search box blank does not limit the data being retrieved.  Operators are not required.

Search only online documents

This limits your search results to only retrieve citations that have an online document.  These documents can include websites located throughout the USGS, PDF files, or documents stored with in the Publication Warehouse.

Search text in title

Search the title field

Specify publication year

This limits your search to a specific year in which a report was published.  Please note that this year may differ from the year designated in the report number (for Open File Reports, Water Resources Investigations, Scientific Investigations, and Fact Sheets).

Specify a year range

You can also specify a date range.  If you only fill in one of the years in the date range, the search from the year designated to the present date.  You will receive no results if the "from" date is larger than the "thru" date.

Author's First/Last Name

Search the author field.  You do not have to designate an author's first name to do this search.  Initials may also be used.

Select USGS publication series

The drop down box lists all series that are currently included in the Publication Warehouse.  You do not have to designate a series to search for a report number or designate a report number to search for a series.

USGS report number

This searches for a report number.  You do not have to designate a series to search for a report number or designate a report number to search for a series.

Example:  - will retrieve "OFR 2002-112" and "FS 112-02"

Example:  - will retrieve any series that has a publication numbered "112"

The year box is for report number year.  This applies to the following series: Open File Reports, Water Resources Investigations, Scientific Investigations, and Fact Sheets.  This is not necessarily the same as the publication year because report numbers may be assigned in years prior to printing.  Year can be entered in two-digit or four-digit format. You do not have to designate a year to search for a report sequence number.

Example:  - or - will retrieve any publications where the report number includes a year of 2002

The sequence box is for report sequence number.  You do not have to designate a year to search for a report sequence number.  You can, but do not have to include leading zeros in the report number.

Example: - or - will retrieve any series that has a publication numbered "112"