The simplest search is a single word that you think appears in the document you are looking for. If the term is unusual or unique, you will be more likely to find that specific document. For example, if you are interested in early motion picture technology, the following query will very likely find pages of interest to you:
When you submit a single word query, the Verity search engine finds documents that not only match the term you entered, but also stemmed variations of the term. For example, if you enter the following query, the Verity search engine finds not only pages that contain the word meet, but also pages that contain meets, met, and meeting.
Remark: unfortunately, this feature only works in English. Having to choose a language while setting up the search engine for this multi-lingual site we choose to stick with the default set up.
We regret this and hope to resolve this shortcoming as soon as the search software allows us to do so.
Tip
You can always restrict the search to the term itself by enclosing it in double quotation marks. For example, the following query finds pages that match only the word meet:
Always use double quotation marks to enclose terms that include unusual characters like the ampersand in S&L. The Verity search engine automatically expands the search to include variations of the term with and without the unusual character. For example, this query finds pages that match S&L, S & L, and S L:
If you enter your search term in completely in lower case or completely in upper case, Verity search engine looks for all mixed case variations. For example, both of the following queries will find pages that match stemmed variations of rose, Rose, and ROSE.
Tip
If you are looking for pages about someone named Rose, enter the name with an initial capital letter. To make the search more precise, enclose the word in double quotation marks, as in the following example.
When you are searching for abbreviations or acronyms, case is important. For example, if you are looking for pages that refer to NOW (the acronym for the National Organization for Women), use the CASE modifier and enter the search term in upper case.
In this example, the CASE modifier finds only the acronym and eliminates pages that match now in lower case.
Note
Most Verity Query Language operators and modifiers must be enclosed within angle brackets (< >) to distinguish them from the actual query term. The words AND , OR , and NOT are always treated as Verity Query Language operators unless they are enclosed within double quotation marks.