Search Tips
(Adapted from FreeFind.com)
By default the search
engine tries to locate pages that have exact matches for all
of the words entered in your search query. If that fails, it
then tries to locate pages that contain any words in your
search query. If that happens a short message is displayed at the top
of the search results indicating this has been done.
In addition, there are
several ways to modify the default search behavior.
- PHRASE
SEARCH
The search engine supports three types of phrase search.
- To
match an exact phrase, use quotes around the phrase.
Example: "alcohol
use disorder"
- To
match a near (within a couple of words) phrase, use square brackets
around the words.
Example: [alcohol
use disorder]
- To
match a far (within several words) phrase, use braces around the
words.
Example: {alcohol
use disorder}
- PREPENDED
QUALIFIERS (+ and -)
If you prepend a word with + that word is required to be in a
database record.
If you prepend a word with - that word is required to not
be in a database record.
Example: +beverage
-beer
(i.e., beverages other than beer)
- WILDCARD
(*)
If a query word ends with a *
all words on a page that start
the same way as that
query word will match. If a query word starts with a * all words that end the same way
will match.
Example: alcohol*
(matches alcohol, alcohols,
alcoholic, alcoholics,
alcoholism, etc.; *ol matches any
alcohol)
- WILDCARD
(?)
If a query word contains a ? any character will match that
position.
Example: D?I (matches DWI and DUI)
- BOOLEAN
SEARCH
You can use the following boolean operators in your search: AND, OR, NOT.
These
operators MUST be in capital letters.
Example: ethanol
OR "ethyl alcohol" (the quotes mean that exact phrase)
All of these techniques
can be combined: +arrest* -D?I (arrest,
arrests, or arrested is
required, but don't include for DWI or DUI)
Avoid common
words like a, an, and, the,
or, in,
on, of, by, if,
with, for, etc.
unless they are part of an exact phrase within quotation marks, e.g., "Monitoring
the Future
Study", "National
Household Survey on
Drug Abuse", "National Institute on
Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism".
Note: Starting in
October 2004, all new records in the CurrentAlcoholResearch.com
database include a field of relevant standard search terms from the
thesaurus compiled for the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and
Alcoholism's ETOH database. Use of these standard indexing terms will
increase search efficiency. To see the thesaurus, click here.
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