Default Search
this that other - this will return results for entries containing either this OR that OR other.
eg St George Hall - returns 1333 hits including images, stories, galleries and multiple choice quiz from a range of topics including
Boolean Search
this AND that or this and that - will return all results containin the word this AND the word that.
eg George and Hall - returns 285 hits
this OR that or this or that - will return all results for both the word this OR the word that. This is the same as the default search.
this NOT that or this AND NOT that - will return all matching results for the word this BUT NOT the word that.
eg George NOT Hall - returns 362 hits including George Stubbs, Great George Street Chapel and George's Dock.
this AND (that OR other) - will return results containing the word this and either the word that or other.
Phrase Search
“lifeboat rescue” - returns results for database entries containing an exact match to the phrase lifeboat rescue.
eg "lifeboat rescue" as a phrase returns 132 hits where as lifeboat AND rescue returns 8 hits.
Wildcard Search
explo* - will return results for entries in the database containing words that start with explo, e.g. explosion, explosions, explode, exploit.
eg explo* returns 64 hits including explosion, exploding and exploration.
This can be combined with the other search combinations
e.gexplo* lifeboat rescue - will look for combinations of words starting with explo, OR the word lifeboat OR the word rescue.
Near Search
rescue NEAR bomb or rescue near bomb - will look for the word rescue near (i.e. within around 8-10 words from) the word bomb.
eg George near Hall returns 275 hits.
explo* NEAR rescue - will return results for words starting with explo near the word rescue.
All of these different searches can also be used on the simple or advanced search pages and used in combination with a particular historical period, subject or place of the original item to refine a search result.
A note about result ranking
The highest weighting is given to results that occur within the titles of documents contained within the Port Cities database. Keywords are the next highest weighted area, followed by description and document text. The relative weight for each of these increases with the number of occurrences of the search term(s) within that field.
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