"SiliconBase Help"


The Workspace

Forming Queries for Searching in the Text Archive

Users may search the SiliconBase text archive using either a simple keyword search or a more advanced syntax-based search.

Simple Search

Like most searches in SiliconBase, the archive's simple search feature requires users to submit keywords separated by commas. A correctly constructed search phrase appears as follows:

The user should then choose and/or. AND will search for materials which contain all of the requested keywords, while an OR search will return all items with at least one requested keyword.

Advanced Search

The advanced searcher allows more refined searches of the SiliconBase digital library. However, the required syntax is complex and somewhat difficult to use. The basic syntax is as follows:

"bibliographic field" contains "keyword".

Quotation marks must surround the bibliographic field and the keyword in all queries.

The following example shows the appropriate syntax:

Searchable bibliographic fields include:

author

title

secondtitle (i.e. title of journal, edited book, conference, etc.)

year

keyword

Users may also create compound Boolean queries using the following syntax:

& (represents AND)

| (represents OR)

The following example shows the appropriate syntax: