There are two places from which you can start a search: - From the Advanced Search Page. You can access this page by clicking the "Search" link at the top-right of any page on the site.
- From the search box found on most pages in the site.
Your search options are basically the same in either case: - Choose which categories or areas of the site to search,
- Specify search terms,
- Specify search options.
This search option is available from most pages on the site near the top left of the page. The search term box (after the for) is where you enter your search terms. You specify what areas of the site you want to search by selecting one of: - Entire Website: Your search terms will be searched for across the entire site.
- All of Practice Area: If you're in the "Benefits" section and you select All of Benefits,
your search terms will be restricted to only this practice area. This
is the same across all practice areas- if you choose "All of Housing"
your search is restricted to items in the housing section.
- This Category: If you're in the "Housing" -> "Evictions" category and you choose This Category as the area you're searching, your search terms will be looked for in "Housing" -> "Evictions" and all of its subcategories.
- Staff Directory: You may have access to the Massachusetts legal services online staff directory. If you choose Staff Directory, your search terms will be looked for here.
You get the Advanced Search page by clicking on the "Search" button at the top of all pages in our site. The category selector
lets you choose the entire site or specific top-level categories.
Unlike the In-Page Search, you cannot restrict to sub-categories. (Note
that the image above has been truncated to save space). In addition to
entering your search terms, you can also specify certain search options. Selecting a CategoryYou can restrict your search to a specific category. Searching within a category also searches within all of it's sub-categories. For example, if you search the Benefits category, you will also search the Benefits->Advocacy and Benefits->Brief Bank categories as well. Selecting the types of resources to searchYou can select the types of resources you'd like to search by checking/unchecking one or more of: - Documents: Documents include nearly everything posted to the site EXCEPT the other types of content below.
- Legal Services Programs: Check this box to search the legal services program records. For example: Searching for "Boston" in Legal Services Programs will find all program records that have the word "Boston" in them: Greater Boston Legal Services, etc.
- User Records: You may have access to individual user records
on the site. You can search for names, job titles, and areas of
expertise by selecting this option and entering your search term.
- Other Websites: If we've linked to an external website, you
can search the content of the pages we've linked to by selecting this
option. For example: If we've added a link to a website on Mass.gov, we will search that page for your search term when you select this option.
Enter the word(s) you are searching for here. You may use search term operators to require or exclude specific terms or phrases. Use the following search term operators to expand or restrict your
search. Note that by default, search terms are disjunctive; if you
enter the terms "food stamp assistance" the search engine will search for resources that contain the term "food" OR the term "stamp" OR the term "assistance." However, resources that contain all three terms would most likely be listed first in the list of results. To require that a word NOT exist in a document:
Prefix that word with a "-" (minus sign).
To search for an exact phrase:
Enclose the phrase in quotes.
To require that a phrase NOT exist in a document:
Enclose your phrase in quotes and prefix it with "-" (minus sign).
To find words beginning with certain letters:
Use an "*" (asterisk, on the 8 key) to specify any letters.
Examples of Search Operatorswelfare food stamps
Finds all documents
with "food", "stamps", and "welfare".
-welfare food stamps
Finds all documents
that contain both "food" and "stamps", but not "welfare."
"food stamps"
Finds all documents that
contain the exact phrase "food stamps".
"food stamps" OR "food stamp"
Finds all documents that
contain the exact phrase "food stamps" or the exact phrase "food stamp". You can't use "wildcard" characters in searches for phrases. car* repair
Finds documents that contain
"car," "care," "carton" and the word "repair." The "*" in a phrase signifies one or more characters.
+"car repair" -fault
Finds documents that contain the phrase "car repair" and DON'T have the word "fault".
car?
Finds all documents that have "care", "card", or "cart" in them. The "?" in a search phrase signifies one character. food OR stamps
Find documents with the word "food" or "stamps". Putting an OR (it must be two capital letters) between words or phrases will search for one or the other. "benefits advocacy"~5
Finds all documents that have
the word "benefits" followed by the word "advocacy" within five words
of it. This is also known as a "proximity" search: you can find words
within certain numbers of other words.
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