Advanced Searching
FIELD SEARCHING. Use Field Searching to search more precisely for author, title, dates, or other document metadata fields. The order of words you enter does not matter. Words are searched as keywords within a field or fields and not as a phrase from left to right. However, you can perform exact phrase searching by putting your keywords in quotes.
MIXED SEARCHING MODES. When you choose a query type (Pattern, Concept, or Boolean), all query words you enter are normally expanded that way. That is, all Concept query words are expanded to related terms via the semantic network. All Pattern words are pattern expanded, and no Boolean words are expanded at all. You can “mix” these query types by entering special operators on specific query words. This causes the terms with operators to be treated differently from the rest of the query terms for whatever query type you are using.
Concept Expansion in Pattern or Boolean Mode. To expand individual words when you are not in Concept mode, enter a semantic operator ( ! ) following the word. That word will be expanded to query terms with related meanings. For example, if you were to enter child! psychology in Boolean mode, the word “child” might expand to “youngster,” “kid,” and “children,” and the word “psychology” would not be expanded.
Pattern Matching in Concept or Boolean Mode. To expand individual words to matching patterns when you are not in Pattern mode, enter a pattern operator ( ~ ) preceding the word. That word will be expanded to similarly spelled words in the library. For example, in Concept mode, if you were not sure how to spell “psychology” you might enter child ~psychology to concept expand “child” and still pick up the word “psychology,” even though it was not spelled correctly in the query.