The Basic Search box is located on all pages on the right of the top navigation bar.
To Search:
- Enter a search term in the Search box.
- Click the arrow button to the right of the Search box or press Enter on your keyboard.
Searches from the basic search box return entries that include all of your search terms anywhere on the page. There is no need to include "and" between terms. Your search terms will be highlighted in yellow in the text.
- Capitalization
Searches are not case sensitive. For example, it does not matter if you enter Rio de Janeiro or rio de janeiro; both will return the same results.
- Accent marks
Many names and terms, especially those from non-English languages, contain special symbols to clarify their pronunciation. To search for these words, simply type the word without accent marks. For example, to search for cancún, simply type cancun in the search box. Please also note that if you copy and paste a word including accent marks into the search box, the results will not show up. Rewrite the word without the special characters.
- Phrase searches
To search for an exact phrase, enclose the phrase in quotation marks. Without quotation marks, the search will return all entries that have all the words in your search, regardless of their location on the page or relation to one another. With quotation marks, the search will return only entries that contain your search phrase exactly as you entered it.
- Limiting results with not
Use the not search in order to reduce the number of unwanted topics in the search results. For instance, if you want to search for entries about the Thames River in Canada but not its namesake in England, enter thames not england into the search box. Include more terms to limit the results further. You may use either the word not to exclude a word from the search. However, the not must be surrounded by spaces.
- Expanding results with or
To search for two different subjects that may not appear together, enter both search terms or sets of terms separated by the word or. For example, the search England or Britain will return any entry that deals with either England or Britain, including entries that mention one but not the other.