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Unified Agenda: Search Tips

Sample Searches | Identification Codes

Sample Searches (3)

The following sample searches are provided as guides to general types of searches in the Unified Agenda databases. Unless otherwise indicated, the searches are performed in the 1998 Unified Agenda database. For the sake of space, only the top three or four hits in each results list are included with each example below.

Note: The results of these sample searches are described as they appear on the Web interface. The display of the results may vary for users of the WAIS client and SWAIS software.

Subject | Agency | CFR Part Number

1. Search by Subject

This type of search returns documents related to a specific subject. The word(s) that you enter as your search term(s) may appear anywhere within the document.

Query:	"farm products"
Results:	ua09no98 360. CLEAR TITLE FOR PURCHASERS OF FARM PRODUCTS
	ua09no98 DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE (USDA)

The above query returns documents that reference regulatory actions planned for farm products. Although both of these documents pertain to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, a subject search is not agency-specific; it returns documents related to a specific subject from all agencies.

2. Search by Agency

This type of search returns documents based on the name of the issuing agency. To make your search more specific, modify the query by also including a date or subject.

Query:	"environmental protection agency" AND "endangered species"
Results:	ua09no98 REGULATORY INFORMATION SERVICE CENTER
	ua27ap98 ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (EPA)
	ua27ap98 3425. ENDANGERED SPECIES PROTECTION PROGRAM

The above query returns documents from the Environmental Protection Agency that relate to endangered species that were published in the Unified Agenda in 1998, as well as a Unified Agenda subject index. In order to retrieve all documents from an agency, include only the name of the agency as your search terms.

3. Search by Code of Federal Regulations Part Number

This type of search returns documents from the Unified Agenda based on the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) part that they affect.

Query:	"21 cfr 107"
Results:	ua27ap98 1004. INFANT FORMULA: GOOD MANUFACTURING PRACTICE
	ua09no98 1222. INFANT FORMULA: GOOD MANUFACTURING PRACTICE
	ua27ap98 2201. MISCELLANEOUS AMENDMENTS
	ua09no98 2404. MISCELLANEOUS AMENDMENTS

The above query returns two documents that pertain to 21 CFR Part 107 (Infant Formula) and two that do not. As in any search that returns undesired documents, you may eliminate some documents from your results list by making your original query more specific. In this example, the query "21 cfr 107" AND "infant formula" would narrow your results sufficiently.

Note: This type of search in the Unified Agenda differs from a CFR part number search in the Federal Register. In the latter, the word "part" must be included in the query.

Identification Codes

In the list that displays your query results, the title of each Unified Agenda document is preceded by an identification code. The identification code contains two elements: a database abbreviation and the issue date. For example, in the identification code "ua09no98," "ua" stands for Unified Agenda, and "09no98" is the issue date (November 9, 1998). While identification codes are helpful for identifying certain attributes of a document in your results list, they are not useful as a query for searching.

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Last updated: December 10, 2007
Page Name: http://www.gpoaccess.gov/ua/tips.html