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Search Tips

Improve the effectiveness of your searches by following these suggestions.

Defining Your Query

Use Synonyms -- If you know the topic of your search, do not confine yourself to one word.  For example, if the query "Connecticut Legislation" does not bring the desired results, try a similar phrase, such as "Connecticut Government." 

Use Boolean Expressions -- Another neglected searching technique is the use of AND NOT, AND, OR, NEAR, * and "" in queries - these words and symbols are essential in querying lengthy phrases for effective results. 

AND - used to search for pages that must have all the specified words in them to be considered valid choices.
Example: the query  Connecticut AND business AND government will only return pages that contain the word Connecticut and the word business and the word government somewhere on the page.

OR - used to search for pages that can have any of the words in them to be considered valid choices.
Example: the query Connecticut OR business OR government will return pages that contain at least one of the specified words.

AND NOT - used to alleviate search pages with a certain word or phrase.
Example: the query Connecticut OR business AND NOT government will return web pages that contain either the word Connecticut or business, but will exclude any pages that contain the word government.

NEAR - similar to the Boolean expression AND, but the resulting pages that have the words closest together will be listed first in the resulting pages.
Example: the query Connecticut NEAR business will produce results with web pages that have the words Connecticut and business closest together first, and the query Connecticut AND business will list web pages that have Connecticut and business occurring most frequently first.

* - also known as the "wildcard" function, the asterisk will search for any pages that begin with the queried word.
Example: the query govern* will produce any web pages with the words govern, government, governor and so on.

"" - any query between quotes are taken literally, so the above Boolean expressions will be ignored if the user prefers.
Example: the query "Connecticut AND business" will return only the web pages with the phrase 'Connecticut and business.' The search engine will NOT return pages with the words Connecticut and business if they are separated.

The above Boolean expressions will work on CBIA's search engine, other search engines on the internet have the same functions but may require the user to enter the expressions in a different way - if ever in doubt it is best to check each resource's help and tips section.

Evaluating Your Search Results

Use the Find Function -- This is probably the most useful and the most neglected tool in internet searching.  Every computer has a simple function to find words in a given document, so finding your exact query in a resulting web page becomes almost instantaneous.  For Windows machines (Windows 95, 98 and NT) you can invoke this function by pressing CTRL and the letter F at the same time while on a web page - type in your original query and Windows will highlight the words in question.

Check Links -- Sometimes a web-page may not provide information on the topic which you are searching, but it contains a link which corresponds to your original query.  Follow the general rule of thumb of ruling out a web page after you find your queried words in the document.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Search CBIA's Site

 

Defining Your Query

Evaluating Your Results