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Simple Search

A simple search from the homepage will search all of the collections in the application, merge the results and rank them according to how relevant they are to your query. To conduct a Simple Search:

  • Type in your keyword(s), like "deep web technologies" and select Search.  Note that Boolean operators (and, or, and not) and exact phrase searching (text within quotes, "exact phrase") are supported.  See Search Tips for more information.
  • The retrieved results will be ranked by relevance. The higher the number of stars, the more relevant the document is to your query. For more information on what determines relevance ranking, please read our FAQ.
  • Unlike many other engines, searches are conducted in real-time. As results are retrieved, you may select Add Results to add new results to your current view. This allows you to read through the results that are returned the fastest while the search continues. NOTE: This does not delete any results from the current view, but may show new results on the first page based on ranking. Please read our FAQ on Relevant Results to clarify how this federated search combats the results delay of real-time searching.

Advanced Search

The Advanced Search page can be used to refine your search. This is particularly useful if you are searching for something particular and have the title, keyword or perhaps the author of your target. This application's advanced search page has three parts: Search Fields, Categories and Featured Collections.

Search Fields

An advanced search can be customized to target specific fields or collections, increasing your chances of finding exactly what you are looking for.

You can search Full Text, Title, Author, and Date Range.

  • Full Text will search the entire content of a document, when available. This is the same as a "Simple Search."
  • Title will search for a specific title in the collection's databases.
  • Author will return results from a specified author.  For more accurate results, use the last name of the author.

You may select any or all fields; this allows you to decide how the search operates between fields.

  • ALL is the default, and finds results with terms occurring in all fields where you have entered a search term.
  • ANY finds results with terms occurring in any of the fields where you have entered a search term.

Date Range allows you to search one or more years in the drop-down boxes.

  • Leaving the boxes blank is the default, and will not search for a specific date.
  • Selecting different 'From' and 'To' years will search the specified range; you must select a 'To' date. Selecting only the 'From' year will search any year after, and including, the year selected.
  • Selecting the same 'From' and 'To' years will search within that single year.
  • Selecting only the 'To' year will search any year prior to, and including, the year selected.

Featured Collections

Featured collections are information sources using federated search, or presenting exceptional, authoritative information for researchers.

  • Featured collections are located at the top of the advanced search page as well as the individual category pages. 
  • Any number of featured collections can be selected during a search, regardless of how many category groups are chosen

Search Results

Your search results will appear in order of relevance, in the middle section of the screen. conducts incremental searching, meaning the fastest results will be retrieved and displayed for you to read while the search continues and brings back results from the slower collections. Once all of the collections have been searched, you may see the following dialogue box.


You may choose Include these results to add more results to your current list. This will merge in the new results and re-rank them according to relevance, so your results list will change. Clicking Do not include these results will return you to your original search list. This is helpful if you have already spotted exactly what you want, or are looking at results. At any time, you may click "Add results" to include the additional results into your list.

You may select Preferences at the top of the page to modify the display of the Additional Results box or the number of results displayed. The settings only apply to your browser session.


Search Tools

Collection Status

The Collection Status link shows the responsiveness of each separate collection. The green check mark indicates the search at that particular collection completed successfully; the red x indicates that the collection timed out or was slow/unresponsive prior to completing a full search. The number in the Results column signifies the number of relevant results retrieved for your search. The Totals column shows how many results were pulled directly on the collection website. NOTE: Not all collections provide totals.

Using the Collection Status link will help you discover new collections for information, or where additional searching should take place. For more information on this box, how it works and what the numbers mean, please see read our FAQ on Collection Status.

Sorting by Field and Limiting by Source

You may sort by Rank, Date, Title, Author, and Collection Order.

  • Rank - Your results will appear with the most relevant (five stars) at the top of the results list.
  • Date - The most recent dates will appear at the top of the results list.
  • Title - Titles are sorted alphabetically, starting with special characters or quotes.
  • Author - The last name of the author will appear alphabetically, with special characters or quotes at the top of the list.
  • Collection Order - This option will only appear when one collection has been selected in the "Limit to" dropdown box. Sorting by Collection Order will filter the results so they appear in exactly the order that they were returned on the original search engine.

You may also filter results by individual collections with the 'Limit to' drop-down box. Using this box allows you to display results from only one collection. You may also sort these results by Rank, Date, Title, Author or Collection Order.

The default display is sorted by Rank with All Collections displayed.

Topics

The Topics section is a navigation tool which allows you to "drill down" into the results set for better results. Under the Topics heading, at the left of your results page, results will be grouped into clusters related to your search term. The topics section can help guide you to needed results by grouping your results by topic, collection, author, date, publication and publisher. You can choose to refine results down to three levels in the Topics section displaying results only in the selected category.

Using Topics with the Sort by and Limit to tools allows you to move through pages rapidly to find the results you need.

Selecting, Downloading and Printing Results

The navigation bar directly below the banner allows you to view, edit and clear your selected results (My Selections) and print or email the complete results list.


Your Selections and Clear Selections

Checking the box next to any result will add it to 'My Selections'. This tool is invaluable as you browse different results pages, perform multiple searches and refine your results sets.


These will be available for viewing on the My Selections page until you close your browser, unless you deselect them by clicking the check box again, or choose Clear Selections.

From the My Selections page, select the Back to Results button to return to your original result list. Also from the My Selections page, you can email, print or download (through the Citations link if available) your selected results. 

Citations Downloading

You may download your results using the Citations link, located on the My Selections page. If you use a bibliographic reader such as EndNote or Refworks, you may download the selected results into your citation manager via an RIS formatted download. Your citation manager should automatically display the results downloaded.

Print Results

The Print Page option allows you to print directly from your main results or from My Selections.

Emailing Results

  • The Email Results link allows you to email a set of results to yourself, friends or colleagues.
  • Select Email Results and enter the required information, indicated by a red asterisk.
  • You may select the number and format of the emailed results.
  • This function is also available from the My Selections page, where you can email specific selected results.
  • If you do not receive your email results in a few minutes, please check your spam filter.

Search Tips

Searches can include:

  • Multiple terms (AND is the default)
    Example: A search on research development will return results on both research AND development
  • Expressions using logical operators "and", "or" or, "not"
    Example: A search on research AND development will return results where both research and development appear; research OR development will return results where either research or development appear; research NOT development will return results with research that do not contain the word development.
  • Phrases search for terms contained in double quotation marks
    Example: A search on "green technology" will return results where the term green is immediately followed by the term technology.
  • Wildcards
    • Use * to search for the term with 0 or more additional characters
      Example: invest* will return results with the terms investment and investing
    • Use ? to search for the term with only 1 additional character (characters include numbers, letters and punctuation)
      Example: DO? will return results with the terms DOE, DOI, DOT, DOG, etc.

As a rule, full text and Boolean searching are supported if the collection database supports it.  If full text is returned, you may see a .PDF, .PPT or .TXT icon displayed.

Search is not case sensitive (for example, RAIN, Rain and rain will produce the same results).

Do you have more questions on Science Conference Proceedings Federated Search? Visit our FAQ, or Contact Us!