5 Simple Methods for Better Search Results Method 1: Use Phrases in Quotes Example: "military records"
Without quotation marks, any page containing the words "military" OR "records" will appear in results. When surrounded by quotation marks, the words are treated as a phrase and only pages with the exact phrase "military records" will appear in results. This is the most powerful query refinement technique.
Method 2: Use a plus (+) or minus (-) sign to require or reject words Example: Thomas +Jefferson -Adams
You can require that the word "Jefferson" be in any documents in the results list by placing a plus (+) sign before it. You can reject words with the minus (-) sign. In the example, no documents with the word "Adams" will appear on the results page unless a search engine is programmed to make them appear above the regular results list.
Method 3: Capitalize when appropriate Example: President White House
Capitalization makes it more likely that results will relate to the US President, who resides in THE White House, rather than a President who lived in or owned a white house.
By combining phrases with a plus (+) or minus (-) sign, and capitalizing where it's appropriate, you can increase the relevance of search results.
Method 5: Know what's on the site Sometimes a search yields unsatisfactory results because the content being sought doesn't exist on the web site.
What Records the National Archives Holds
The National Archives keeps records created in the course of business conducted by the United States Federal government only. We do not have vital records such as birth certificates, death certificates or marriage licenses. Those are created and maintained by local and state governments. Likewise, we do not archive family histories or genealogies.
NARA keeps only those Federal records that are judged to have continuing value—about 2 to 5 percent of those generated in any given year.
The volume of materials—paper-based, electronic, and sound and video recordings—is huge.
Laid end to end, the sheets of paper in our holdings would circle the Earth over 57 times! There are 63 miles of shelving in our College Park location alone!
In addition to all of this paper, we have:
over 93,000 motion picture films more than 5.5 million maps, charts, and architectural drawings more than 207,000 sound and video recordings more than 18 million aerial photographs nearly 35 million still pictures and posters and more than 3.5 billion electronic records The volume of records grows at about 1.4 billion pages per year, not including electronic data and other media. Converting such vast quantities of new and existing records to electronic format exceeds our resources at this time.
While your search of our site will not always locate the precise document or piece of information you are after, by using the above methods in combination with an awareness of the scope of our content, you can be sure getting the best search results possible on our web site.
Thank you for your interest in the National Archives and Records Administration
5 Simple Methods for Better Search Results
ReplyDeleteMethod 1: Use Phrases in Quotes
Example: "military records"
Without quotation marks, any page containing the words "military" OR "records" will appear in results.
When surrounded by quotation marks, the words are treated as a phrase and only pages with the exact phrase "military records" will appear in results. This is the most powerful query refinement technique.
Method 2: Use a plus (+) or minus (-) sign to require or reject words
Example: Thomas +Jefferson -Adams
You can require that the word "Jefferson" be in any documents in the results list by placing a plus (+) sign before it.
You can reject words with the minus (-) sign.
In the example, no documents with the word "Adams" will appear on the results page unless a search engine is programmed to make them appear above the regular results list.
Method 3: Capitalize when appropriate
Example: President White House
Capitalization makes it more likely that results will relate to the US President, who resides in THE
White House, rather than a President who lived in or owned a white house.
Method 4: Combine Methods 1, 2, and 3
Example: Brady +"Civil War" +photographs
By combining phrases with a plus (+) or minus (-) sign, and capitalizing where it's appropriate, you can increase the relevance of search results.
Method 5: Know what's on the site
Sometimes a search yields unsatisfactory results because the content being sought doesn't exist on the web site.
What Records the National Archives Holds
The National Archives keeps records created in the course of business conducted by the United States Federal government only. We do not have vital records such as birth certificates, death certificates or marriage licenses. Those are created and maintained by local and state governments. Likewise, we do not archive family histories or genealogies.
NARA keeps only those Federal records that are judged to have continuing value—about 2 to 5 percent of those generated in any given year.
The volume of materials—paper-based, electronic, and sound and video recordings—is huge.
Laid end to end, the sheets of paper in our holdings would circle the Earth over 57 times! There are 63 miles of shelving in our College Park location alone!
In addition to all of this paper, we have:
over 93,000 motion picture films
more than 5.5 million maps, charts, and architectural drawings
more than 207,000 sound and video recordings
more than 18 million aerial photographs
nearly 35 million still pictures and posters
and more than 3.5 billion electronic records
The volume of records grows at about 1.4 billion pages per year, not including electronic data and other media. Converting such vast quantities of new and existing records to electronic format exceeds our resources at this time.
While your search of our site will not always locate the precise document or piece of information you are after, by using the above methods in combination with an awareness of the scope of our content, you can be sure getting the best search results possible on our web site.
Thank you for your interest in the National Archives and Records Administration