Help with using the advanced search
Use the 'Advanced search' if you want to find more exact results. For example you can search for words in the title, author, topic or free text areas of the records - see help with entering terms.
The advanced search function can be used to construct a query using words from a title, author name or topic - or a combination of them all. The advanced search will generate more exact search results than the simple search.
In advanced search you can refine your search using a number of options. You can refine a search by:
Using 'search operators'
The advanced search is based on the use of 'search operators', that is the words 'and', 'or', and 'not'. Search operators construct relationships between different search terms.
And
If you use 'and' between your search terms, the search will only generate results that include all the search terms you are using. Using 'and' will reduce the number of search results.
Example: You want to search for resources that are written by Enid Levin and Jo Moriarty.
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Important note: As with most databases, a person's surname is listed before their first name. You must search this way or you will not get any results.
Or
If you use 'or' between your search terms, the search will find records containing either one or both of the search terms and will de-duplicate the results. Using 'or' will increase the number of search results.
Example: You want to search for resources that have been written by Enid Levin or Jo Moriarty.
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Not
If you use 'not' between your search terms, this will exclude results for this term. It is particularly useful if your search term is associated with another common term. It is important here to ensure you enter your terms in the correct order.
Example: If you want to search for results about bullying but not in relation to children.
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Combining different Boolean operators
You can also use a combination of ‘and', ‘or' and ‘not'. This enables you to be very specific what you want and what you do not want in your search results
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Truncate your search term
Intermediate search allows you to search for variations of words with a common stem or prefix. It works by searching for the prefix of a word and generating a list of results that include all variants of the word with that prefix. This is sometimes called 'stemming'. For example if you searched for 'educat', the search will generate results that include educate, educating, education, educational, educator, educators, etc. But be careful - it is easy to generate unwanted records, or miss records if the truncate symbol (asterisk) is wrongly placed.
Important note: To truncate a word in advanced search you must write the prefix of the word, followed by an asterisk (please note, there are additional rules for truncating in the advanced search).
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Help with entering terms
When entering words in the fields in the intermediate search box:
Author : Type in an author name, with their surname before their first name. No punctuation is required. Eg Levin Enid
Topic: Type in a topic. You should use a topic that is included in the Social Care Online topic tree.
Title: Type in any word, phrase or whole title.
Free text: Type in any word or phrase. This will search the whole record, including author, topic, title, publisher, abstract index etc. for the phrase you are looking for.
Date range: Select how far back you want the records to go.
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Produced and maintained on behalf of The Scottish Government by the Social Care Institute for Excellence.
