Search Tips

Searching is an art that takes practice. Read these tips to improve your search technique.
 

• General tips

• For better encyclopedia results

• For better dictionary and thesaurus results

General tips:

• Try different Libraries.
  Encyclopedias in the three Britannica Libraries contain different amounts of information and produce different results. If you don't find the results you need, try selecting a different Library from the top of the Control Panel.  More about the Libraries...
   

• Check your spelling.
  Click to check Not sure of spelling? next to the Search box if you do not know how to spell a word or name. This tells Britannica to find words similar to the words you type. You can also use this checkbox to correct errors.
  
  For example, if you type helcopter instead of helicopter, you may not get results. Just click Not sure of spelling? and then click Go again to get results on helicopter.
   

• Use uppercase or lowercase.
  Type your search words in uppercase or lowercase—it doesn't matter. Changing the case of the letters in your query does not affect the search results. For example, the word AIDS gives you the same results as the word aids.
   

• Use * for a wildcard search.
  A "wildcard" stands for any letter or letters. Britannica supports the asterisk (*) as a wildcard character. Use the asterisk (*) before or after your search word(s) to find closely related words and phrases.
  
  For example, to learn about types of law, you could type *law in the search entry box. Your results might include marriage law, business law, and so on.
  
  Wildcards are helpful when you can spell only part of a word. For example, type Niet* to get results on "Nietzsche."
   

• Use Boolean operators for advanced searches.
  Boolean operators are little words that make a big difference in your search. Use the following three Boolean operators to create rules for a search to follow:
  
  AND to specify that you want all of your search words to appear in the results. German AND shepherd
  
  OR to receive search results that contain any one or all of the words in your multiple word query. Yugoslavia OR Bosnia
  
  NOT to exclude words from your search results. Washington NOT George
  
  Combine these three Boolean operators into a formula by using parentheses:
  
  cherokee AND (language or alphabet) NOT sequoyah
  (Yugoslavia OR Bosnia) AND "war tribunal"

To improve encyclopedia results:

• Use quotations to get exact matches.
  Use quotation marks around words or phrases if you want them to appear word for word in your search results. For example, if you are interested in the American Civil War and you do not want to see results for other civil wars, type "American Civil War" in the Search entry box.
   

• Avoid punctuation except when required by spelling.
  Punctuation is generally ignored, however the marks that have meaning are quotation marks (interpreted as an exact match search), the asterisk (interpreted as a wildcard search), parentheses (interpreted as an advanced Boolean search) and hyphens as part of a term, for example, Epstein-Barr virus.
   

• Try natural language in your search.  
  For an encyclopedia search, you can type a question or sentence just as you would speak it. Natural language can produce surprisingly accurate results. Try these search examples to see for yourself. (Remember, these work only for encyclopedia results!)
  
  spiders in Australia
  Who invented the piano?
  What is the third longest river in the world?
   

• The search ignores common words.
  Words you enter such as "is" and "the" don't count in the encyclopedia results. Consult the list of Stopwords to see which words will be ignored.
   

• Try British spellings.
  The Encyclopµdia Britannica is of British origin, and many of the articles in this Library use British spellings. If your keyword has both an American and a British spelling, you may receive a greater number of results by using the British spelling. Check the list of American/British Spellings.
   

• Use concise search terms.
  Phrase your query as exactly as you can. If you don't get results you like, think of synonyms for your key search terms—use the thesaurus!
  
  china is not as specific as porcelain
  conflict might be better understood as war
   

• Use abbreviations when appropriate.
  Searching for abbreviations that are used in the Britannica Libraries helps you pinpoint information. To view and understand the abbreviations used in encyclopedia articles, check the Abbreviations list.

To improve dictionary and thesaurus results:

• It's always an exact match.
  The dictionary and thesaurus results always attempt to find an exact match to your search words. There are no "stopwords." If you type more than one word, the phrase must appear in the dictionary or thesaurus.
   

• Dictionary results include idiomatic phrases and alternate terms.
  The dictionary search looks for matching entry headings, idiomatic phrases, and alternate terms. For example, a search on wild turns up oregano because oregano is also known as wild marjoram.
   

• Use singular words as a rule.
  Dictionary and thesaurus entries are usually singular. However, if you type dogs, the search will find dog. In general, type a singular keyword or a known phrase (cats and dogs) for best results.
   

• Use wildcards to look up spellings.
  To use the dictionary to look up word spellings, type a fragment followed by the asterisk(*). For example, type tract* to find the spelling for tractable. Type *ism for a list of all words ending with those letters.
   

• Hyphens are the only valid punctuation.
  Use hyphens for hyphenated words (cul-de-sac). Other punctuation marks are not valid and will produce no results.