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Document Search Tips

Querying

Wildcards
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Use wildcards to match any variable portion of a word that you want to match. ? to match one character. * to match zero, one or more characters.
Example
pol*
This query returns documents containing "policy", "polls", "polling", etc.
AND
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Requires both terms before and after the AND be in the document for it to match. AND must be capitalized.
Example
Diplomacy AND USA
Only returns documents that match the terms "Diplomacy" and "USA"
Diplomacy AND USA AND Relations
Can be used multiple times
NOT
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Ensures that the term following NOT is excluded from any of the returned documents. NOT must be capitalized.
Example
cat NOT dog
city NOT (New York)
If one of the terms is multiple words use parentheses.
OR
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One or both terms must appear for the document to be returned as a match. Documents with both terms will be given higher relevance. This is the default behavior between 2 terms if no operator is given. OR must be capitalized.
Example
cat OR dog cat dog
This query only returns documents that contain either "cat", "dog" or both terms.
Parenthesis
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Bracketed expressions. These are evaluated left to right and can be nested. They dictate the precedence and behavior of combined operator statements.
Example
(city NOT (New York)) AND pizza
Exact Phrase
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You can search for exact phrases by putting quotation marks around a phrase.
Example
"Foreign Relations"
FOIA Case Lookup
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You can look up an existing FOIA case by typing the exact case number in the Case Number Field. Wildcards and other operators are not valid in this field.
Example
F-2006-03464