Advanced Search Tips

Our site search allows simple single or multiple searches against our vast archive of content. However, a few, simple, techniques allow you to get even more relevant content out of its search function.

 You can create more sophisticated searches using operators, which are special words used in the search/keyword field such as "AND" to ensure the search works in a specific way.

1. Phrases

If you wish to search against multiple words as an exact phrase, you can do this using "".

Example: You wish to search for articles that contain the exact phrase "John Smith".
Solution: Enter this into the keywords field: "John Smith"

2. AND

This operator ensures that all words can be found in each of the search results. However it is the default and therefore you do not need to provide it.

Example:  A search for china AND coal is the same as entering: china coal as the search defaults to the AND operator.

3. OR

This operator allows a search to return results that contain any of the search terms you provide.

Example: You wish to search for articles that contain the words "Changi" or "airport- but not necessarily in that order or next to each - just somewhere in the article.
Solution: Enter this into the keywords field: changi OR airport

4. +

The "+" operator ensures term after the "+" symbol exists somewhere in each search result.

Example: You wish to search for articles that contain the words "changi" but may or may not contain "airport".
Solution: Enter this into the keywords field: +changi airport

5.  -

The "-" operator ensures term after the "-" symbol DOES NOT exists somewhere in each search result.

Example: You wish to search for articles that contain the words "changi" but must not contain "airport".
Solution: Enter this into the keywords field: changi-airport

6. NOT

The "NOT" operator excludes words that you do NOT want to be found anywhere in the search results.

Example: You wish to search for articles that contain the words "changi" but do NOT contain "airport".
Solution: Enter this into the keywords field: changi NOT airport

7. Combining operators - Advanced Searches

You can combine the operators above to create complex, grouped searches using parentheses.

Example A.: You wish to search for articles that contain the phrase "John Smith" and MUST mention China
Solution A.: Enter this into the keywords field: "John Smith" AND China

Example B.: You wish to search for articles that contain the words "John Smith" AND either "China" or "Korea"
Solution B.: Enter this into the keywords field: "John Smith" AND (China OR Korea)