• Introduction
• Forcing a Query
• Pass-through Options
• Punctuation, Accents and Case
• Truncation
• Wild-Card Characters
• Basic Query
• AND vs OR Searches
• Boolean Query
• Boolean Query Options
• Inputting a Boolean Query
• Boolean Query Examples
• Example #1
• Example #2

Introduction
All ClassWeb Plus search screens provide multiple access points and support both index browsing (which is very fast and displays records in access point order) and real queries (not quite as fast and the results are not sorted, but they are limited to those records that match your criteria). In general, with the exception of the Keyword access points (when they are available), entering your search criteria into only one of the input boxes and pressing Enter (or clicking on the Search button), will perform an index browse. The records will be sorted according to the access point you are using and the first record in the display will be the closest match to your search term. From there, you can page backwards and forwards in the database -- you have access to all records and not just those that matched your search term. If you prefer, you can force a query to be run by checking either the basic query or boolean query search options before submitting your search request.

If there is a Keyword access point and you input one or more words into the Keyword box, or if you input values into any two or more access points or check either the basic query or boolean query search options, ClassWeb Plus will run a regular query. While browse results are returned instantly, a real query may take a few seconds (or even minutes, depending on the search). Also, query results are not returned in any particular sequence, although they tend to be in record number order.

ClassWeb Plus supports truncation searching (you just input a partial search term), boolean (AND, OR and NOT) and mathematical (less than, greater than, etc.) operations, and wild-card characters (? matches any single character and * matches multiple characters). In addition, all keyword access points support phrase and proximity searches.

Forcing a Query
If you would prefer to run a real query instead of browsing an index when you only have one search criteria, click on either the basic query or boolean query search options before submitting your search request. You must click on the Search options link first and choose one of the following query options:

Pass-through Options
Many of the options that you select on a given ClassWeb Plus page (like the number of records to return at a time) are passed from screen to screen as you navigate through the system. To reset these values to the defaults for your account, return to any menu and proceed from there. Note that this will only affect the current window or browser tab and that any additional windows or tabs that you have open will continue to use their existing settings.

Punctuation, Accents and Case
In order to improve its search results, ClassWeb Plus normalizes all search data to remove certain characters and modify others. Accent marks, and upper and lower case distinctions are ignored. This process is also applied to your search criteria (for example, to locate François, you can input the name that way or just type francois). The normalization process includes:

Truncation
Truncation support is the default setting for all ClassWeb Plus searches. It means that any search terms you enter are the truncated version of what you are looking for (i.e. rail will match railroad and railway). Some systems refer to this as a stem search. If you do not want to match alternate word endings, you can change this setting on any search screen by clicking on the Search options link and selecting the Exact match option before you run your search. Like so:

When truncation support is enabled, it affects every word in a keyword search (including each word in a phrase) and every phrase in all other search criteria.

Wild-Card Characters
Two wild-card characters are supported by ClassWeb Plus: the asterisk (*) and the question mark (?). An asterisk matches zero or more characters and a question mark matches exactly one character. Placing an asterisk after each of your search terms is equivalent to running a truncation search.

Basic Query
To run a basic query, enter your criteria into the appopriate input boxes and press Enter or click on the Search button. If you are only inputting one search term, you may need to check the basic query search option to force the system to run a query. Once your search results are returned, you can navigate through them and use the links available after each record to delve further. The remainder of this section and the following section (Boolean Query) give more information on running queries.

AND vs OR Searches
When running a query (either because you input multiple search terms, multiple keywords, or selected a basic or boolean query), the default behavior for ClassWeb Plus is to return only those records that meet all of your search criteria. Alternately, you can search for those records that meet any of your requirements. To enable this feature, click on the Search tips and options link and select the button that says any matching term. Like so:

If your criteria includes multiple keywords or phrases and you select any matching term, then any of those words or phrases can cause a record to be a match.

Boolean Query
To run any of the searches in this section, you must turn on the Boolean search features of ClassWeb Plus. This is done by clicking on the Search options link and selecting the button that says boolean query. Like so:

Boolean Query Options
Even though boolean mode allows you to create boolean expressions within a search field, the relationship between search fields is still controlled by the all or any search options. The default setting is all which means that all of the individual search fields must be true for a record to match. Within a single search field, you can still use an OR operator. Alternately, you can search for those records that meet any of your search criteria. See below for an example. To change the all or any feature or simply to check what it is set to, click on the Search options link. By default it will look like this (an AND search):

Inputting a Boolean Query
All boolean queries require a little more effort on your part. Every search term must be surrounded by quotation marks and if you input more than one search term in any input box, you must include one of the following boolean operators between each term (in addition to this list, keyword input boxes can also use any of the proximity operators):

A boolean query is input as a series of words or phrases connected by boolean operators. You may use parentheses to insure the proper meaning of your search criteria. In general, a boolean expression is evaluated from left to right. However, the OR operator has a lower prececence than any of the other operators and sometimes requires parentheses to achieve the proper results. If in doubt, use parentheses.

Boolean Query Examples
All of the following examples assume that boolean query mode has already been selected.