Word searches done against Author, Title, Subject, or Note fields bypass relevancy ranking and present the results in a single group.

You can switch between a ranked view and an ungrouped view sorted by date or title using the links provided at the top of the result set.

Records retrieved from any word search will highlight words from the search in red. All occurrences of the characters will be highlighted in the display of the entry, even in parts of the bibliographic record that were not searched. See this example from the word search for the subject: neurology.

You may combine words with Boolean operators: "and", "or", "and not". Narrow the search using "and" or "and not"; broaden the search using "or". Two or more words entered without Boolean operators are searched as a phrase.

This Search	Retrieves	Example
toxic waste	Records in which the phrase "toxic waste" appears in any indexed field.	Example.
title: 1850 and title :census	Records in which titles contain both "1850" and "census".	Example.
author: mozart and title: 626	Records in which authors contain mozart and titles contain 626.	Example.
subject: mozart and subject: 626	Records in which subjects contain mozart and 626.	Example.
mexico and not new mexico	Records containing "mexico" that do not contain "new mexico".	Example.
ceylon or sri lanka	Records that contains either "ceylon" or the phrase "sri lanka", or both.	Example.
(alaska or canada) and (adventure and not vacation)	Records containing either "alaska" or "canada" that also contain "adventure", but do not contain "vacation".	Example.

Other options to broaden or narrow searches include wildcards and proximity operators.

Wildcard	Action	Search	Retrieves
?	Matches a single character.	wom?n	Records containing woman, women, womyn, etc.
*	Matches up to 5 characters.	nation*	Records containing nation, nations, national, nationhood, etc.
**	Matches any number of characters.	nation**	Records containing nation, nations, national, nationhood, nationalities, nationalizing, etc.

Proximity Operator	Retrieves	Search	Example
near	Records containing the words within ten words of each other.	power near ethic*	Example.
within x	Records containing the words within x words of each other.	maine within 5 universit*	Example.

Tips for Successful Searching

1. Use Word Search in Conjunction with Subject Search

Once you find a useful item using a word search, use subject headings to find relevant items. Click on a linked subject heading (listed under "Similar items").

Contrast these two searches by clicking on the links. (Use the browser's Back button to return to this page.)

Word Search: decline and Roman and Empire
Subject Search: Rome history empire

2. Do Complex Word Searches Directly on MaineCat and NExpress

If you want to repeat a word search on MaineCat and NExpress, use the "Search MaineCat" and "Search NExpress" links on the main catalog page.
Choosing the "Search in NExpress" and "Search MaineCat" buttons within the catalog may not repeat a complex word search correctly.

Relevance Ranking Groups

Most relevant	The search phrase (e.g., world religions) is in the primary title (e.g. World religions today).
Highly relevant	The search phrase is in the sub-title (e.g. Her voice, her faith : women speak on world religions).
Very relevant	The search phrase is in the contents, series, notes, or subject headings (e.g. Evil and suffering, which is in the series: The Pilgrim library of world religions).
Relevant	The Boolean AND pulls words from the search phrase in the primary title and/or sub-title (e.g. Fragments of bone : neo-African religions in a new world).
Other relevant	The Boolean AND pulls the words from the search phrase from anywhere in the record (e.g. Islam and ecology : a bestowed trust, which is published by Center for the Study of World Religions).