The Power search is one of the library 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 Power.
Choose the search index that you want to use from one or more of the 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.) |
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: Limits do not apply to Z39.50 broadcast searches. |
If you want to define your own limits, choose a limit type and operator, then enter the limiting value under Limits.
If you are limiting by multiple limit criteria, choose another limit type and operator, then enter the limiting value under Limits.
(For example, you can limit your search results to titles published between 1990 and 2000.)
If you want to, you can sort your search results in a certain order.
Click Go.
The library 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.)
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Note: This feature may not be available, depending on how your library sets up the portal. |