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Search Tips
The Search feature on the Information Gateway website has been streamlined and improved. Searching this website is similar to searching on many popular search engines.
- Be as specific as possible with your search terms.
- You don't need to use "and" in your search phrase if you are searching on more than one word; the search feature will only look for items that include all the words.
- If you want to search on an exact phrase, use quotation marks around it. For instance, "child welfare" will search on that exact phrase with the words in that order.
- If you want more results that are less specific, don't use quote marks.
- Some search terms have more than one common spelling, and each returns a different result. For instance, if you are searching for information on postadoption services, you may want to search on "postadoption" and "post adoption" and "post-adoption."
- To get the maximum number of results, use all lowercase OR all uppercase letters. For instance, "PRIVATIZATION" or "privatization" is less specific and will produce more results than "Privatization"
- If you need help in choosing search terms, visit the Search A to Z
- If you want to eliminate results that contain a particular word, include that word with a hyphen directly in front of it. For instance, if you want to search on "substance abuse" but you don't want results for "methamphetamine," type in the following: "substance abuse" -methamphetamine
When you use the search box at the top righthand corner of any webpage on the Information Gateway site, you'll get the most comprehensive search results. If you would like to conduct a more focused search, you can:
- Use the Advanced Search
- Search the Information Gateway Library
- Search the State Statutes database
- Search the Publications Catalog
- Search the National Foster Care & Adoption Directory
- Search the Conference Calendar
- View the list of Related Organizations
You may also search these related sites: