A Quick Word About Using The Search Dialogue
* We have updated the search tool on this website. It is now able to index content from inside of PDF and other uploaded documents.
1: Use unique, specific terms
To reduce the number of pages returned, use unique terms that are specific to the subject you are researching. Searching for "council minutes" will return every document in the database that contains the word "council" and the word "minutes". If you know the specific topic discussed at a council meeting, search for that topic and it will probably come up near the top.
2: Don't use common words and punctuation
Common terms like 'a', 'and', 'the', are called stop words and are usually ignored. Using them causes the engine to search for every instance of these words, and will return too many results to be accurate. Punctuation is also typically ignored. But there are exceptions, so don't include it.
3: Capitalization
Most search engines do not distinguish between uppercase and lowercase, remember the following are all equivalent: 'technology', 'Technology', 'TECHNOLOGY''.
4: Drop the suffixes
It's usually best to enter the base word so that you don't exclude relevant pages. For example, 'bird' and not 'birds', 'walk' and not 'walked'. One exception is if you are looking for pages that focus on the act of 'walking', enter the whole term 'walking' and not just 'walk'.
1: Use unique, specific terms
To reduce the number of pages returned, use unique terms that are specific to the subject you are researching. Searching for "council minutes" will return every document in the database that contains the word "council" and the word "minutes". If you know the specific topic discussed at a council meeting, search for that topic and it will probably come up near the top.
2: Don't use common words and punctuation
Common terms like 'a', 'and', 'the', are called stop words and are usually ignored. Using them causes the engine to search for every instance of these words, and will return too many results to be accurate. Punctuation is also typically ignored. But there are exceptions, so don't include it.
3: Capitalization
Most search engines do not distinguish between uppercase and lowercase, remember the following are all equivalent: 'technology', 'Technology', 'TECHNOLOGY''.
4: Drop the suffixes
It's usually best to enter the base word so that you don't exclude relevant pages. For example, 'bird' and not 'birds', 'walk' and not 'walked'. One exception is if you are looking for pages that focus on the act of 'walking', enter the whole term 'walking' and not just 'walk'.
