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Search Help
How Do I Search?
- A simple sitewide search box appears in the upper right area of most pages on The Resource Center website.
- Type one or more descriptive words into the search box; then click the go button. Do not include any punctuation marks in your search (except quotation marks, which may be used for phrase searching).
- You will receive search results from eight different sources of information:
Resource Center website, Resource Center Library, Conference and Training Calendar, Forms/Documents, Links, Effective Practices Collection, Senior Corps Tech Center, and the NSLC Library. Click on any of these for a description of the contents.
- The search displays the top five results from each of the
eight sections. In the gray bar, you'll find the source of information, the total number of results from that
section, and a link that allows you to view all results in this section.
Basic Search Tips
Not enough results?
- Scroll down, and look at the results from each of the eight different sources of information. Even if you get no results from the The Resource Center website itself, you may get results from one of the other sections.
- Use fewer words. The default search finds pages that contain ALL of the search terms. For example, AmeriCorps Training will yield more results than AmeriCorps Training Materials.
- Try alternate words with similar meanings. For example, Youth Development will yield more results than Child Development.
Too many results or off-topic results?
- Add more words to your search, or try an alternate word with a similar meaning.
- Use search terms you think might be in a title. Search results are ranked by
title, keywords, and content. A search for AmeriCorps will first return results with AmeriCorps in the title; a page with AmeriCorps only in the content would be displayed further down the list of search results.
- Search for an exact phrase such as "AmeriCorps Training" by
putting quotation marks around the phrase. This will return only those
pages where the two words are directly next to each other.
- Try an advanced search or a Boolean search.
Advanced Searches
- The Advanced Sitewide Search box appears at the bottom of the search results page after you conduct a search.
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With the Advanced Sitewide Search, you may search all eight information sources at once, or you may elect to search only some of them. To select individual
sections, un-check the "all" checkbox; and then check the sections you wish to
search.
Boolean Searches
The Resource Center Search also offers Boolean searches.
Boolean search examples:
AND
Example: americorps training
will find any pages that contain both the word americorps AND the word training. The AND is implied anytime you search for more than one term.
OR
Example: americorps OR training
will find any pages that contain either the word americorps OR the word training. The OR must be capitalized.
NOT
Example: americorps –training
will find pages that contain americorps, but do NOT contain training. Note that the – just excludes a given word from results. The query –training will find nothing!
( )
Use parantheses to compose more complex queries through grouping.
Example: (americorps OR training) –citizenship
will find items with americorps OR training, but NOT with citizenship.
Sources of Information
In addition to the sitewide searches, several of the sections have their own
advanced searches where you can refine your search. Links to these individual
advanced searches are provided in the descriptions below.
- The Resource Center: This section refers to the actual pages on this website, such as articles
from The Resource Center newsletter and the directory of training and technical assistance providers.
- The Resource Center Library: This section contains a database of The Resource
Center lending library holdings, including books, videos, games, and toolkits. Corporation-funded
programs may check out library items free of charge. The Resource Center Library Advanced Search allows you to search by title, author, keyword, abstract, or publication date.
- Conference and Training Calendar: The calendar contains both national service training opportunities and other
conferences and events of interest to all service providers. The Calendar Advanced Search allows you to search by date, location, stream of service, or keyword.
- Forms/Documents: This section contains the popular Resource Center Sample Forms collection,
which includes
sample agreements, contracts, job descriptions, reporting forms, and so on. It also
includes tip sheets and online documents related to national and community service.
The Forms/Documents Advanced Search allows you to search by title, keyword, or abstract.
- Links Database: This section contains annotated links to other websites. The Links Advacned Search allows you to search by category, name, keyword, or description.
- Effective Practices Collection: This section contains over 700 write-ups of effective program practices across a wide range of topics.
- Senior Corps Tech Center: This section contains search results from the Senior Corps Tech Center website, which includes information on hardware, software, and technology planning and
use.
- NSLC Library: This section contains search results from the National Service-Learning Clearinghouse Library.
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