Expert Search is a flexible interface for searching the FPinfomart.ca Archives that allows for complex search statements.

You may prefer to view this information as a downloadable PDF file.

If you are looking for examples of complex Expert Search strings, please see the Field Search Examples at the bottom of this Help Topic, or consult our Search Examples page.

General guidelines

• Searches are not case-sensitive.
• Search terms must be enclosed in quotation marks
• When a phrase of more than one word is entered, only stories that have those exact words in that exact order will be retrieved.
• Date ranges and source selection can be made through the drop down menus below the Expert Search query box.
• To locate major articles on a topic, limit your search terms to the headline or lead paragraph.
  • Searching head:(toronto and olympics) will search for the words Toronto and Olympics in either the headline or the lead paragraph.
• Type variable spellings where applicable, to optimize search results.
  • "labor" or "labour"
  • "healthcare" or "health care"
• Search terms are not case sensitive. Searching for "apple" retrieves apple the fruit, Apple the computer company, or perhaps popular expressions, euphemisms or slang such as ‘The Big Apple’.
• Use qualifying words or phrases to render search queries as specific as possible.
  • "apple computer" and "software"
  • "y2k bug" and "legacy software"
• Treat numbers as you would letters, inputting variables as required.
  • "y2k"
  • "bill c-51" or "bill c51"

Boolean operators (AND, OR, ANDNOT)

The Boolean operators of AND, OR, and ANDNOT can be used in Expert Search to broaden and narrow search results.

AND brings back stories that include all of the search terms

OR brings back stories that match at least one of the search terms

ANDNOT excludes stories with the specified search terms.

Examples:

        "bank" AND "merger"

        "forestry" OR "forest management"

        "apprentice" ANDNOT "trump"

Truncation and Wildcards

The truncation/wildcard symbol is * (asterisk)

*     represents an open-ended stem of zero to an infinite number of characters

Do not use the wildcard symbol at the start or of any word (e.g. *gate is NOT permitted)

Examples:

       "micro*"
        retrieves: micro, microscope, microcomputer, Microsoft, micro-organisms, etc.

       "canad*"
        retrieves: Canada, Canadian, Canada's, etc.

        "wom*n"
        retrieves: woman, women

Using Parentheses

If you are creating a search statement with several terms or variables, you will need to use parentheses so that the system knows how you would like the terms grouped.

Like a mathematical equation, terms within parentheses are processed first by our search engine. Generally, parentheses are put around similar terms that refer to the same concept. You may nest several levels of parentheses if necessary.

Examples:

("molson*" OR "labatt*") AND "sponsor*" AND "tennis"

("dog*" OR "cat*" OR "pet*") AND ("aw*" OR "bylaw*" OR "legal*" OR "illegal*")

(("cemetery" OR "cremat*" OR "burial") AND "ontario*") ANDNOT "obituary"

Adjacency & Proximity

Use proximity operators in place of AND to specify how close together words must appear in articles.

NEAR