Finding Aids at The University of Minnesota

Search Tips

Help Topics

Searching
Interpreting Search Results
- Results Display
- Viewing Options
Viewing Search History
Using the Basket

Searching

You can select one or more collections to search and submit simple or complex queries against those collections. To conduct a search, follow these steps:

Basic Search

Basic search is the simplest search; it lets you look for a single word or phrase (using Boolean "and") in a designated area of the text. Because it is less specific, sometimes your search results will be larger than for advanced searches that let you be more specific in your search query.

View of the basic search box:

To use the basic search:

Enter a term or phrase in the text box. Use an asterisk with a word stem to find variations on the word (e.g., searching for civ* will match civ, civil, civic, and civilian.). All other punctuation will be ignored.
Use the pull-down find "in" menu to select an area of the text to search within. Options include: entire finding aid, names, places, subjects, collection title, or repository.
Select the "search" button to submit the query.

Advanced Search

Advanced search lets you look for combinations of up to three terms or phrases using Boolean connector terms (and, or, not).

View of the advanced search box:

To use the advanced search:

Use the pull-down "Search in" menu to select an area of the text to search within. Options include: entire finding aid, names, places, subjects, collection title, or repository.
Enter a term or phrase in the first text box. Multiple words in a single box will be treated as a literal string, not separately in an "any word" or "all words" sense. Use an asterisk with a word stem to find variations on the word (e.g., searching for civ* will match civ, civil, civic, and civilian.). All other punctuation will be ignored.
If you enter a term or phrase in the second text box, select a Boolean operator (and, or, not) after the first text box to determine the relationship between the first term and the second.

Example:

Civil in the first box, war in the second box, and the and operator between would look for all instances of civil and war in the specified region.

Civil in the first box, war in the second box, and the or operator between would look for all instances of civil or war in the specified region.

Civil in the first box, war in the second box, and the not operator between would look for all instances of civil that occur without war occurring in the specified region.

If you enter a term or phrase in the third text box, select a Boolean operator (and, or, not) after the second text box to determine the relationship between the second term and the third.

Example: World in the first box, followed by the and operator Socialism in the second box followed by the or operator Poverty in the last box will be evaluated as ( world and socialism ) or poverty

Select the "Search" button to submit the query.

Browse

Browse lets you view the complete list of finding aids. Browse lists can be sorted alphabetically, either by title or creator.

Search Tips

Here are some helpful tips to keep in mind when you are searching the finding aids:

String Matching:
The search engine uses string matching to determine search hits. That means, for each query term, the primary rule is this: what you put in the form text box is literally what the search engine will look for. This includes complete phrases. Exceptions to the primary are as follows:

Wildcard: You can use an asterisk '*' at the end of a word stem to find plural forms and other variations on that word.

Example: searching for "work*" will match works, worker, working, etc.

Punctuation: All punctuation marks entered in a search box are ignored and treated as spaces.

Example: searching for anti-slavery and anti slavery will match both phrases.

Capitalization: Case sensitivity of the search term is not retained in searches by the search engine.

Example: searching for Love will match "LOVE," "Love," and "love."

Other helpful tips:

Select specific areas of a text: Select the "Search in" pull-down menu to specify specific areas-names, places, subjects, collection title, repository-of a finding aid to search within.

Searching the collections: You can broaden or narrow your search depending on which collections you select. Selecting more collections will usually result in a higher number of matches.

Select the search button: Not all browsers will allow you to submit a search form by hitting the 'enter' or 'return' key. This is especially the case for forms with more than one input text box. To be safe, always select the search button.

Interpreting Search Results

The search results display gives you a quick overview of your multiple collection search results and easy access to a variety of viewing options for the items in the list.

Results Display

The parts of the results display include:

The search summary statement always appears at the top of the search results display. The summary statement echoes the initial search terms, including what area of the finding aid was specified, the type of search conducted, and the results either for all collections included in the search, or the current collection selected in the results by collection menu. The summary statement also indicates what sort order, if any, the results are in.
Limit search results by repository allows you to repeat your search within an individual repository.
The results by record display shows the individual records in which matches of the search occurred. Initially, the results by record display show all items in a list format, with a maximum of 25 items per page. Each item in the list contains brief record information, a summary of the number of matches, and several viewing options for that item.

Sorting is available for most results lists and allows users to order results based on the following options: title, frequency.

Viewing Options

From each item in the list, a viewer has four options:

View Matches in Context - will load detailed information about results for that item, showing context for each match of the query.

Outline View goes to the summary information for the finding aid. Side navigation allows users to quickly link to other sections of the finding aid.
Full Text displays the entire text of the finding aid.
Add this to my Basket adds the record to your basket.

Viewing Search History

The search history keeps a record of the searches you have submitted during your current search session. The history keeps track of your search terms, the collections that were searched, and a summary of your results. The search terms are displayed as links that, if clicked, will resubmit the search.

Using the Basket

Getting Started

The basket lets you select items as you search or browse collections and hold them for the duration of your current search session. Records in your basket can be saved to your desktop or emailed to any email address. You can also search items in your basket collectively, as well as link to any item directly.

Adding a Record to Your Basket

You can add items to your basket from the results list, the outline view, or while viewing the full text. In the results list, under each record, is an "add this to my basket" link, as shown:

View of a record display result with an "add this to my basket" link.

To add an item to the basket, simply select the corresponding link. The number of items in the basket will be updated in the right side portion of the top navigation bar.

Opening the Basket

You can view your basket contents from any page by clicking the "basket" link located on the right side portion of the top navigation bar.

View of the "basket" link located on the top navigation bar:

Main Basket Page

All the features in the basket are available from the main basket page.

Basket features:

"email contents" allows you to send the item records to any email address.
"download contents" saves the contents to any place on your computer or displays them in another application.
"empty contents" removes all the records at once.

A typical record in the basket is shown below. When you email records or download them, they will be sent or saved as plain text files (.txt).

Item record features:

Selecting "link to this item directly" will display the outline view of the finding aid in the main window.
Select "remove from basket" to remove the record from your basket.