About Our Search Engine

Results Page Description:

Page Description, if it has been specifically written, coded, and hidden in the page header
Otherwise, the first instance of the specific search term(s)

Click on:
"Cached" link for Web pages, or
"Text Version" link for PDF files to see your search terms highlighted.

By default, the search engine returns only pages that include all of your search terms; there is no need to use "and".
For exact matches, use quotes -- for example, "restless leg syndrome".
Refining or narrowing your search:
Use the 2nd box on the results page. This will automaticlly add more words to the search terms you have already entered. The refined query returns a specific subset of the pages that were returned by your original broad query.
Required words are desiganed by putting a plus sign (+) immediately in front of the required term (no space). Make sure you include a space before the plus sign.
Exclude words from your search by putting a minus sign (-) immediately in front of the term you want to exclude (no space). Make sure you include a space before the minus sign.
Searches are NOT case-sensitive; "Dr. Nabel" is the same as "dr. nabel".
For "OR" searches: use an uppercase "OR" between terms, for example, "heart OR sleep".

Results are ranked by relevance to the search terms. Common words and characters are excluded.
- Excluded words include most pronouns and articles, such terms as "where" and "how," and certain single digits and single letters. These terms rarely help to narrow a search and can slow searching significantly.
- If you want to use any of these words in your search, use the plus sign (+) sign immediately in front of the terms you want to include, or enclose your phrase containing these words in quotation marks. Make sure that you include a space before the plus sign.

Page Title: The first line of the result is the title of the Web page found. Sometimes, instead of a title, there will be a URL, which indicates that the page has no title.
Excerpts from the document are included that include how your search terms are used in context on that page. These are found just below the title link. Your terms are bolded, so you can tell at a glance whether the result is a page you want to visit.
Cached Pages: Clicking on the cached link will enable you to see the content of the Web page with the search terms highlighted. This can help you find the relevant part of the document (where the terms appear) and can help you understand why a particular document was selected.
Indented Result: an addional document from the same directory.
More Results: If there are more than two documents from the same directory, the remaining documents are folded behind this "More results from..."