NIGMS Web Search: Basic Help

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At its simplest, a query can be just a word or a phrase. But you can also expand the focus of your query to give you more complete results. These tips will get you started with basic query language and acquaint you with the full power of Microsoft Index Server, which powers the NIGMS Web site search engine.

• Look for words with the same prefix. For example, in your query form type key* to find key, keying, keyhole, keyboard, and so on.

• Search for all forms of a word. For example, in the form type sink** to find sink, sinking, sank, and sunk.

• Search with the keyword NEAR, rather than AND, for words close to each other. For example, both of these queries, protein AND structure and protein NEAR structure, look for the words protein and structure on the same page. But with NEAR, the returned pages are ranked in order of proximity: The closer together the words are, the higher the rank of that page.

• Refine your queries with the AND NOT keywords to exclude certain text from your search. For example, if you want to find all instances of gene but not gene therapy, write the following query:

  gene AND NOT therapy

• Add the OR keyword to find all instances of either one word or another, for example:

  Nobel OR Prize

  This query finds all pages that mention Nobel or Prize or both.

• Put quotation marks around keywords if you want Index Server to take them literally. For instance, if you type the following query:
  
  "cell NEAR biology"

  Index Server will literally look for the complete phrase cell NEAR biology. But if you type the same query without the quotation marks:
  
  cell NEAR biology

  Index Server searches all documents for the words cell and biology.

These hints will get you started, but for more complex queries and more examples, see the Query Language page.