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About Search
The Research Forum search tool is a full-text search function. That means that any word, phrase or name entered will find all documents that contain that information on the Research Forum site. The search supports the use of and, not and or in searching. Without these terms, the search will assume you're adding the words together. The search function will evaluate from left to right only.
Search by Phrase " "
To search by phrase enter the exact phrase within quotations and all documents in which that phrase appears on the website will appear in the results list. For example, enter "earned income tax credits" search will return all documents in which that phrase appears.
Search using And/Not
To refine your search use the words and and not between phrase words. For example, if you are looking for information about child poverty in California, enter: poverty and California. The results of this search will be all documents that contain both the words "poverty" and "California". If you use not in the phrase, for example, enter: poverty not California, the system will return all documents that contain the word "poverty" in it that do not contain the word "California". Using not is a useful way to narrow your search.
Search using Or
You can also use or when you would like to search for different things at once. For example, if you enter: Poor or Low-income, the system will search for all documents where any of these terms are present. Using or may be helpful when you are interested in finding information for which you do not know the specific term that may be contained within a document. A caution, however, a broad search such as the word "poor" will potentially return large number of documents.
Privacy Concerns
The system administrators look at the usage of the search tool to gain information on what users' are seeking. For example, if we see that many users type in a word that we did not have in our keyword list, so that future searches for this popular term is made easier. Or if we see that users consistently search for a term, we may need to update the sites' navigation to facilitate the site's ease-of-use. This information is collected in aggregate form only; individual search choices are not tracked. For more information, consult the site's privacy policy.
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