Help with searching

How to search

The search box appears towards the top of every page on the site.  Type the word/s you want to search for and click Go.

  • Phrase search - typing a phrase within quotes will look for the exact phrase you enter:
    • e.g. "watchful waiting"
  • Keywords - if you enter more than one word without using quotes, the engine will prioritise those records which contain all of the words first
    • e.g. watchful waiting
  • Truncation - typing the first part of a word is often a good way to retrieve multiple records:
    • e.g. metasta will find metastatic, metastasis and any alternative endings of that string

How the Database works

After you type your search term/s and hit Return, our database looks for your words in the Title, Keywords and Description of each web page in our database.

Search results

Search results are presented (10 to a page) in a list which is organised by:

  1. relevance (i.e. the records which best match your query are displayed first) and then
  2. by quality.

For example, if your search term occurred in the title of five records and in the Description of another 25, the former would appear at the top of the list, in order of quality.  Thereafter, the other 25 would appear, with the best quality first. 

Results are displayed in a consistent way with each record including:

  • a title (which links to the full-text information on another web site),
  • a source (the organisation responsible for producing the information),
  • a quality rating (scored out of 5 stars for usability and reliability)
  • and a details link (providing more information along with our summary of the quality of the information).

Search options

By default, the search displays hits which are:

  • Source:  UK-based organisations.
  • Audience:  Intended for use by patients.

You can use the Search options at the foot of your list of hits to select different kinds of information (e.g. "non-UK" sources or "Any" publication type).