Search Tips

General Tips

All searches are case in-sensitive so you can type in uppercase or lowercase. Punctuation marks such as the period (.), colon (:), semicolon (;), and comma (,) and common words such as and, as, with, or, for are ignored during a search unless the marks or common words are enclosed in quotes. Punctation marks apostrophe (')and hyphen (-) are searched. Please do not use double quotes.

It's important to select your keywords carefully. Use words you might expect to appear in the title of a document. Try to spell author names correctly, however, the database will search a string of letters; for example, searching by last name "Smi" will result in Brady-Smith, Ensminger, Goldsmither, Kupersmitdt, etc.

Searching by Project Type

If you do not select a Project Type (e.g. Current Interest Projects, Past Projects) by default the database will search materials across all projects. To narrow your search, you may select the radio button Current Interest Projects OR the radio button Past Projects.

Searching by Authors or Investigators, Searching by Keywords in Document/Project Titles

Radio Button Selection "ALL of these words":

By default, the database will return only materials that include ALL the author names or titles you type in. This ALL default is indicated by the radio button below each of these sections, pre-set to "ALL of these words."

For example, if you type in Lopez, Green, Mathmatica in the Authors or Investigators field the results will be materials that contain ALL three authors. If you type in Family, Studies in the Keywords in Document/Project Titles field, the results will be materials that contain ALL (or both) keywords.

You can add quotes to find exact phrases. Words enclosed in double quotes in the Authors or Investigators field, such as "Alan Yaffe", "Nancye Campbell" will return materials that contain ALL (or both) of these authors, exactly as you have entered them. Likewise, words enclosed in double quotes in the Keywords in Document/Project Titles field, such as "Head Start", "Children", "New" will return materials that contain ALL of these keywords, exactly as you have entered them.

Radio Button Selection "ANY of these words":

If you would like the database to return materials that include ANY of the author names or titles you type in select the radio button below each of these sections and set it to "ANY of these words."

Once you have set the radio button to "ANY of these words" the database will find all instances of any of the words or all. For example, if you type in Lopez, Green, Mathmatica in the Authors or Investigators field the return will be materials that contain ANY materials that mention one of these authors, two of these authors, or all of these authors. If you type in Family, Studies in the Keywords in Document/Project Titles field, the return will be materials that contain ANY (or either) of these keywords or both.

You can add quotes to find exact phrases. Words enclosed in double quotes in the author Authors or Investigators field, such as "Alan Yaffe", "Nancye Campbell" will return materials that contain ANY of these authors, or both, exactly as you have entered them. Likewise, words enclosed in double quotes in the Keywords in Document/Project Titles field, such as "Head Start", "Children", "New" will return materials with ANY of these keywords (one of them, two of them, or all three), exactly as you have entered them.

Searching by Main Topics or Document Type

If you do not select a topic to search, by default the database will search across all main topics. To narrow your search, you may select specific main topics.

If you do not select a document type to search, by default the database will search all document types. To narrow your search, you may select specific types. If only select "All Topics" and/or "All Types" as the only criteria on the page you will be asked to select more criteria.

Searching by Publication Date

You can choose a predetermined date range for publication date. You can search by Month or Season; you may not multi-select. You can also add in a year range. If you do not select a predetermined date range, by default the database will search all Months and Seasons and all Years. If you select a Month or Season, but not a Year range, the database will search that Month or Season across all Years. If you select a Year range, but not a Month or Season, the database will search that year range across all Months and Seasons. Years can be searched From, To, or both.

Please note that if a publication date is a calendar month it will NOT be assigned to a season, e.g. if the publication date is February you will not find this document in your search results if you only select the season Winter.

Please note that Years search the database for ANY materials containing years within your date range. For example, if you enter the Year date range 1998-2002, the results will be: Material A, 1991-2000; Material B, 2000-2020 and Material C, 1999-2000.

Searching by Project Years

You can choose a predetermined date range for Project Years, From, To, or both. If you do not select a predetermined date range, by default the database will search all Years.

Please note that Project Years search the database for ANY project containing years within your date range. For example, if you enter the Project Year date range 2000-2010, the results will be: Project A, 1991-2008; Project B, 2007-2020 and Project C, 1999-2000.