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Search Help

Search Help

Doing a search is easy. Simply type one or more search terms (the words or phrase that best describe the information you want to find) into the search box and hit the 'Enter' key or click on the Search button.

In response, the search produces a results page: a list of web pages related to your search terms with the most relevant pages at the top of the list.

The search will bring up direct links to the information you are looking for or will provide you with a list of web pages which contain links to the information.

Here are some basic tips to help you maximize the effectiveness of your search:

Choosing search terms

Choosing the right search terms is the key to finding the information you need.

Start with the obvious – if you're looking for general information on wards, try wards

But it's often advisable to use multiple search terms; if you're searching for a specific ward, you'll do better with Combe Ward than with either Combe or Ward by themselves.

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Capitalization

The searches are NOT case sensitive. All letters, regardless of how you type them, will be understood as lower case. For example, searches for trust board papers, Trust Board Papers, and tRuSt BoArD pApErS will all return the same results.

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Automatic "and" queries

By default, the search only returns pages that include all of your search terms. There is no need to include "and" between terms. Keep in mind that the order in which the terms are typed will affect the search results. To restrict a search further, just include more terms. For example, if you want to find visitor information for Combe Ward, type combe ward visitor information.

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Automatic exclusion of common words

The search ignores common words and characters such as "where" and "how", as well as the single letter "a", because they tend to slow down your search without improving the results. The search will indicate if a common word has been excluded by displaying details on the results page below the search box.

For example, to search for Freedom of Information, use:

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Phrase searches

Sometimes you'll only want results that include an exact phrase. In this case, simply put quotation marks around your search terms.

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Phrase searches are particularly effective if you're searching for proper names ("James Scott "), document titles ("disabled parking"), or other phrases ("clinical governance").

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