Find it fast using the AAAS Search Engine
Finding content on the Project 2061 Web site is simple with the
search engine. This search tool can
be found below the AAAS logo in the
upper-left-hand corner of every page
that features the logo.
(Show me
the search tool.)
It is easy to run basic or advanced searches and to interpret
results. Learn how below:
Basic searching
Conduct a basic search by typing in the search box, and
then clicking the magnifying glass
button (or hitting Enter on your
keyboard).
To search for an exact phrase, place it in quotations.
The search engine will only seek pages that
contain the phrase "algebra textbooks".
To search for one or more words in a document, use
the word "OR" between the words.
The search engine will find pages
that contain the word "textbooks" or the word "guidebooks",
or both words.
To search for one word or phrase, but to exclude another word or
phrase, use a minus sign (-)
in front of the word or phrase you wish
to exclude from the search.
The search engine will find pages that
contain both "textbooks" and "mathematics", but
not "evaluations".
Note: the minus sign requires
a space in front of it.
The search engine will seek only documents with all of the words
in the search box, unless a search
word is preceded by the minus sign
or the word "OR".
The search engine finds both regular Web page files (HTML)
and Adobe Portable Document Format
files (PDF).
For more information on searching, see the Advanced
searching and Interpreting
the results sections.
Advanced searching
Launch a more sophisticated
search by clicking “Advanced
search” found right below
the search box. Advanced searching
allows you to customize various
fields—you can also limit
a search to specific domains or
even restrict the amount of time
the search engine spends performing
your search.
The "AAAS
Advanced Search Field Descriptions" table
explains each field on the advanced
search form that you can manipulate
(see Figure 1).
Interpreting results for both
basic and advanced searches
Results for both basic and advanced
searches are shown in two columns,
as shown in Figure 2; the right-hand
column indicates document titles
with a brief excerpt and offers
three possible selections:
-
Click the title to open it
in the current window.
-
Click the text "[new
window]" to open the document
in a new browser window.
-
Click the text "[preview]" to
display the document below the
title (an option not available
on every browser).
The left-hand column shows clustered
results. These clusters are categories
of results the search engine has
formed based on analysis of the
document content. Choosing a cluster
limits the results to documents
that have been classified as falling
within that category. If the cluster
has a plus sign (+), it can be
opened up to reveal sub-categories
deeper within that cluster.
It is easy to highlight specific
words within the results themselves.
To perform such a search, go to
the search box below the clusters
[Find in clusters: Enter Keywords]
and write a word or phrase, and
click on the magnifying glass button
or hit the Enter key. Clusters
with matching text are highlighted,
the matching documents are displayed
in the right column, and any matching
text in the results will be highlighted
(see Figure 3).
Basic search example
Let's say you want to find content on the next version of Atlas
of Science Literacy (Volume
2, in development) and begin with
the word "atlas". The word is too broad and
returns numerous "atlas" documents, many of which are unrelated
to Atlas of Science Literacy.
You then refine the search by modifying
it to "atlas of science
literacy", which returns fewer results
but still too many to be practical.
However, results in the left column
indicate clusters, one of which is "Atlas of Science
Literacy Volume 2". Clicking on this cluster reveals two documents
relating to the next version of Atlas:
the first document is a list
of sample maps and includes a link
to an article from 2061 Connections about
the book.
You can learn more about clusters in Interpreting
the results.
If all else fails...
Please contact
us if your use of the search tool is unproductive. Your comments
and comments from other site
visitors are appreciated because
they help us to improve the Project
2061 Web site’s design, navigation, and
usefulness.
