The Power search is one of Information Portal's three searching tools. Power search lets you search by multiple author, title, and subject keywords, and then refine your search by choosing one or more of these operators: Or, And, Not, or Xor (exclusive "or", meaning one term or the other only). Power search also lets you define limits and lets you sort your search results by specific criteria.
To do a Power search
Click the Search tab.
Click the Power link below the Search tab.
Choose the search index that you want to use from one or more of the Search By drop-down lists.
Enter a search term in the field that corresponds to each search index that you chose.
If you are searching by multiple criteria, choose the Or, And, Not, or Xor operators from the drop-down lists.
These operators let you include or exclude certain criteria from your search.
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Tip: You can also search for items using a "wildcard" symbol or a truncation symbol. This is useful if you do not know the exact term for which you want to search. (For example, you may not know how to spell an author's name.) The wildcard symbol represents a group of unknown characters in addition to those in your search criteria. You use the asterisk ( * ) for the wildcard. (For example, if you enter "man*" for an Author Keyword search, Information Portal displays titles by authors named "Mansen," "Mandell," "Manhattan," and so forth.) The truncation symbol represents a single character in addition to those in your search criteria. You use the question mark ( ? ) for truncation. (For example, if you enter "man?" for an Author Keyword search, Information Portal displays titles by authors named "Man," "Mang," "Mann," "Mans," and so forth.) |
If you want to use a pre-defined limit, choose a limiting option from the Limits list.
You can choose multiple limits by holding down CTRL and clicking each limit that you want to use.
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Note: Information Portal does not limit search results for Z39.50 broadcast searches. |
If you want to define your own limits, choose a limit type and operator, then enter the limiting value under User Defined Limits.
If you are limiting by multiple limit criteria, choose another limit type and operator, then enter the limiting value under User Defined Limits.
(For example, you can limit your search results to titles published between 1990 and 2000.)
Choose the sorting option that you want from the Sorting drop-down list.
Click Go.
Information Portal returns a list of results based on the search criteria you entered. For more information on how to understand your search results, see Interpreting your search results.