Not getting the search results you are looking for?

Sometimes when you are searching for information, you do not quite get the results you expect.

Here are some tips to help you fine-tune your search results:

• No results or too few results?
• Too many results?
• Using the proper syntax?

No results or too few results?

If you get no results, even if you have spelled all words correctly, try to widen the search to include more results:

• Use fewer search terms.
  For example, use election instead of election campaign.
• Use more general search terms.
  For example, use report instead of fact-finding mission report.
• Use the * (asterisk) character as a wildcard at the end of any word in your query.
  For example:
  milit* finds documents containing military or militia or militaire (French) etc.

These tips may also do the trick if you get too few results:

After widening the search, use filters to limit the results - e.g., publication date, country of origin, document type, document language - to find the exact result you are looking for.

Too many results?

If you get far too many search results, it might be because you used the simple search from the Home page. For example, if you use the keyword Syria in the simple search, you will get results about many countries of origin other than Syria. This is because the system searches for the word Syria wherever it is located in a document, even if the document itself concerns mainly the situation in Jordan.

Try the Advanced Search for a more specific query.

Advanced Search allows you to narrow your search by country of origin, source, publication date, document type and language.

If you are an expert search user, you can skip the Advanced Search page, and use the Keyword Query Language (KQL) to enter advanced queries directly in the search box, like this:

("military service" OR conscription) AND (desertion OR defection)

You will then get results about military service OR conscription, OR results containing both words in addition to the words desertion OR defection OR both of these words.