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Search Rules

Capitalization

Capitalization does not matter: use upper, lower, or mixed case. For example, AIDS, Aids, and aids is treated as the same.

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Search Operators

The use of Boolean search operators (AND, OR, and NOT) may vary in each search field. For example:

• You can use AND in the Topic field, but not in the Patent Number field or the Publication Name field.

Keep in mind that case does not matter when using search operators. For example, OR, Or, and or returns the same results. We use all uppercase in our examples as a matter of style.

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Wildcards

Wildcards (* $ ?) are supported in most search queries; however, the rules for using wildcards will vary by field.

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Phrase Searching

To search for an exact phrase, enclose the phrase in quotation marks. For example, the query "energy conservation" will retrieve records that contain the exact phrase energy conservation. This applies only to Topic and Title searches.

If you enter a phrase without quotation marks, the search engine will retrieve records that contain all of the words you entered. The words may or may not appear close together. For example, energy conservation retrieves records containing the exact phrase energy conservation. It will also find records containing the phrase conservation of energy.

If you enter two words separated by a hyphen, period, or comma, then the term will be interpreted as an exact phrase. For example, the search term waste-water will find records containing the exact phrase waste-water or the phrase waste water. It will not match water waste, waste in drinking water, or water extracted from waste.

You may use wildcards in an exact phrase search statement. For example, "energy conserv*" matches energy conservation as well as energy conserving. It does not match conservation of energy. The search "m$croeconomic theory" matches macroeconomic theory and microeconomic theory. It does not match pricing theory using macroeconomic variables or microeconomic problems studied by portfolio theory.

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Parentheses

Use parentheses to group compound Boolean operators. For example:

• (Antibiotic OR Antiviral) AND (Alga* OR Seaweed)

• (Pagets OR Paget's) AND (cell* AND tumor*)

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Apostrophes

Apostrophes are treated as spaces, not searchable characters. Be sure to search for variants with no apostrophe. For example, Paget's OR Pagets finds records containing Paget's and Pagets.

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Hyphens

Search for hyphenated words and phrases by entering the terms with and without the hyphen. For example, speech-impairment finds records containing speech-impairment and speech impairment.

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Did You Know ...

You can use up to 49 Boolean operators in a single search query. You cannot use more than 49 operators in a query in a single field or between fields on the Search page. Implied operators do not count.