CME Site Search: Quick Tips

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Initial Search

This search tool functions just as the Google search tool does except that it only pulls information from Web sites of participating medical schools. Once the search results are displayed, click on a link to be taken to that policy.  Since the search phrase will not automatically be highlighted in the policy, you can hit CONTROL F to perform the search and find function again within each specific document. 

By default the search engine tries to locate pages that have exact matches for all of the words entered in your search query. If that fails, it then tries to locate pages that contain any words in your search query. Searches are not case sensitive.

In addition, there are several ways to modify the default search behavior:

1. Phrase search
   The search engine supports two types of phrase search.
• To match an exact phrase, use quotes around the phrase
  Example: "maternity leave"
• To match a near (within a couple of words) phrase, use square brackets [around the words]
  Example: [financial salary guarantee]
2. + and - qualifiers
   If you prepend a word with + that word is required to be on the page.
   If you prepend a word with - that word is required to not be on the page.
   Example: +tenure –part-time
3. * wildcard
   If a query word ends with a * all words on a page which start the same way as that query word will match. 
   Example: *bylaws*
4. Boolean search
   You can use the following boolean operators in your search: AND, OR, NOT. These operators MUST be in capital letters.
   Example: (intellectual AND property)  or (conflict AND interest)

Advanced Search

By using the advanced search page, you can do a lot more with search than just typing in search terms. With Advanced Search, you can search only for pages:

• that contain ALL the search terms you type in
• that contain the exact phrase you type in
• that contain at least one of the words you type in
• that do NOT contain any of the words you type in
• created in a certain file format (e.g., PDF, Word document, Excel spreadsheet, etc.)
• that have been updated within a certain period of time
• that are within a certain institutional Web site by limiting the domain name field

You can also sort the results by relevance to your specific search or by date.