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United States Department of Veterans Affairs

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VIReC Web Site - Advanced Search Tips

If you find that your search is resulting in too many, or too few hits, you can incorporate one or more of the following tips to retrieve documents containing ALL of the words in the query, including stemmed word variations. For example, a search on benefits would return documents containing any of the words benefits, benefit, or benefiting. To search for an exact phrase, or to turn off stemming, enclose the query in quotes. Searching in fields is available for the Title, Keywords, and Subject fields. Below are some examples:

+"health" +"benefits"
Finds documents containing only the exact words health and benefits.

+"health benefits"
Finds documents containing the exact phrase health benefits.

+"health benefits" +eligibility
Finds documents containing both the exact phrase health benefits
and stemmed variations of the word eligibility.

+"health benefits" -eligibility
Finds documents containing the exact phrase health benefits and do not contain stemmed variations of the word eligibility.

health benefits
If neither sign is associated with the search term, the results may include documents that do not contain the specified term as long as they meet other search criteria.

+title:"health benefits"
Finds documents containing the exact phrase health benefits in the Title field.

+subject:"health benefits"
Finds documents containing the exact phrase health benefits in the Subject field.

+keywords:"health benefits"
Finds documents containing the exact phrase health benefits in the Keywords field.