Search tips
- Check spelling
- Use multiple words
Example: renal treatment program
- Use similar words
Example: ear, hearing, auditory
- Use appropriate capitalisation
Example: Indigenous, Aboriginal, Australian
- Use quotation marks
Example: "Recent trends in Aboriginal mortality"
- Use plus (+) or minus (-)
Example: +"diabetes mellitus"
- Use field searches
Example: title: deaths desc :"key facts" keys: mortality body: births alt: "join now" url: help
- Use wildcards
Example:
wh*
"wh* are"
415-*-*
Check spelling
Make sure your search terms are spelled correctly. If sound-alike matching
is turned on, the search engine will attempt to find words that sound
similar to your search terms, but it is always best to try to spell the
search terms correctly.
Use multiple words
Use multiple words when performing your search. The search results will
return more refined results from several words than from a single word.
For example, typing health service will return more relevant results
than typing only service. (Keep in mind, relevant results are returned
even if they don't contain all query terms.)
Use similar words
The more similar words you use in a search, the more relevant results you
will get back.
Use appropriate capitalisation
Capitalise proper nouns. Lowercase words will match any case. For example,
typing health will return all documents containing the words health,
Health, and HEALTH. However, typing Search will only search for pages about
the Atomz.com Search service.
Use quotation marks
Use quotation marks to find words which must appear adjacent to each other,
for example, "recent trends in Aboriginal mortality." Otherwise,
the search results will include the word recent, trends, in, Aboriginal,
and the word mortality, but not necessarily in that order. The words may
appear anywhere, and in any order, within the document. Note: With this
Search engine, you must use double quote marks ("), rather than single quote
marks ('). Note: if you are using the Advanced Search Form with radio buttons
for "any," "all," and "phrase," then quotes can only be used when the "any"
radio button is selected. Quotes are ignored if the Advanced Search Form
"all" or "phrase" radio button is selected.
Use plus (+) or minus (-)
Use a plus sign when your search term or phrase must appear in the search
results. Use a minus sign to indicate undesirable term(s). The plus sign
tells the search engine that a certain word or phrase is required in the
search results, and a minus sign indicates that a word or phrase must be
absent in the search results. Note: a phrase must be contained within quotation
marks. Leave no spaces between the plus or minus sign and the term. Note:
if you are using the Advanced Search Form with radio buttons for "any,"
"all," and "phrase," then plus and minus can only be used when the "any"
radio button is selected. Plus and minus are ignored if the Advanced Search
Form "all" or "phrase" radio button is selected.
Use field searches
Field searches allow you to create specific searches for words that appear
in a specific part of a document. A field search can be performed on body
text (body:), title text (title:), alt text (alt:), meta description (desc:),
meta key words (keys:) or URL (url:). The field name should be in lowercase
and immediately followed by a colon. There should be no spaces between the
colon and the search term. Note: the field searches can only be followed
by a word or phrase. Phrases must be contained within quotation marks. Note:
if you are using the Advanced Search Form with a list box for the field
name, then field names can only be entered before a word or phrase when
the "any" option is selected. Specific field names are ignored if any other
Advanced Search Form field is selected in the list box.
Use wildcards
Wildcard searches can expand the number of matches for a particular request.
The * asterisk is used as the wildcard character. For instance, searching
for wh* will find the words what, why, when, whether, and any other word
that starts with wh. Searching for *her* will find the words here, whether,
together, gathering, and any other word that contains her anywhere in the
word. Wildcards may be combined with the standard plus (+) and minus (-)
modifiers, quotes for phrases, as well as the field search specifiers. +wh*
-se*ch will find all pages which have a word that starts with wh and which
does not contain a word that starts with se and ends with ch. "wh* are" will find the phrases where are, what are, why are, etc.
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