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Search Tips
    Find it Fast
    General
    Case Sensitivity
    Wildcard Operators
    Phrase/Adjacent Terms
    Boolean Operators
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Become a member.

As a member of ScienceLab, you can tag, rate, and comment on search results. Registration is required. Certain information you provide during registration may be visible to other users, including your role and username. Your email address will not be shared or visible to other users. You must agree to our terms and guidelines before registering.

After submitting your registration information, you will receive a confirmation email, including a temporary password and instructions. Once confirmation is received, you can immediately begin utilizing the tag, rate, and comment features. You must be signed in to utilize these features.

Tag your results.

You can add value to your results by selecting tags that you think are good descriptors for the content. These tags, added by you, help to further describe the item and make it more accessible to others. Think of the tags as labels for each resource.

Add tags directly from your results screen. There are three tag categories available: 1) Content Type, 2) Grade Range, and 3) Science Subject. Pick single or multiple tags from any or all categories and select Add.

Your tags will appear with that search result. To delete any of your added tags, select the icon beside the tag.

Rate your results.

You can rate each result on a 5-star scale, . Use your mouse to select the star rating you think the resource deserves. Your rating will appear instantly and will be averaged with ratings from other users.

Comment on your results.

You can share your thoughts and opinions about any result. After selecting Add Comment, a comment form will appear, where you can enter the subject and content of your comment, then preview before saving.

To read previous comments, select the text that indicates how many comments are available for that result. You will be able to review the comments, add a new one, or reply to older ones.

Search Tips

Find it Fast

The Find it Fast section of the homepage provides a convenient way to search by grade range, agency, or science subject. Selecting any of the terms listed will execute a search for that term.

General

A. Searching for individual terms does not require a special syntax. For example, a search for DOG will return all results that contain the term DOG. 

B. Special term prefix syntax, used by some search engines such as Alta Vista, is supported. For example, searching on +DOG -CAT will return results that contain DOG but not CAT. 

Case Sensitivity  

A. Search terms are case insensitive. A term entered in either upper case, lower case, or mixed case will find/match terms that are in the bibliographic citation and/or the full text in upper case, lower case, and/or mixed case. 

B. Example: Searching for Quark, quark, QUARK, or quARK will return the same results. 

C. HOWEVER, Boolean Operators (see more info below) must be capitalized. To search for both cat and dog, the correct term is cat AND dog. To search for dog but exclude cat, the term is dog NOT cat. 

Wildcard Operators are not functional at this time.  

Phrase/Adjacent Terms  

A. Phrases (adjacent terms) can be searched for by using double quotes. For example, a search for "BIG EXPLOSION" will return results that contain the term BIG immediately followed by the term EXPLOSION. 

B. Phrases can be joined together using Boolean Operators. For example, a search for "DOG HOUSE" AND "DOG RESIDENCE" will return results that contain both the phrase "DOG HOUSE" and the phrase "DOG RESIDENCE". Boolean operators must be in full caps (OR, AND, NOT). OR is not currently functional. 

Boolean  

A. Boolean operators must be in full caps to work correctly.

B. Operators (AND, OR, NOT)

C. The OR operator is currently not functional.

D. Searches for DOG AND CAT will return results that contain both DOG and CAT.

1. Searches for DOG NOT CAT will return results that contain DOG and do not contain CAT.

For further help or information, Contact Us.

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