Use wildcards to save time and produce better search results
Narrow your search using proximity connectors
Search document segments to improve your search results
Search for documents of a certain date
Scan a search results list for the most relevant documents
Refine your search results list when you display "by document"
Display your search results "by Table of Contents"
To simultaneously search for multiple words with the same root or other common characters without entering each possibility, use wildcards.
Use * in a search term to indicate that any one character can appear at a certain position. If two or more * appear together in the middle of a search term, the system will substitute that many characters. However, if two or more * are placed at the end of a term, the system will substitute that many characters or fewer. For example, a***culture retrieves agriculture and aquaculture, but not apiculture, while tax**** will retrieve tax, taxes and taxable.
Use ! at the end of a term to indicate that any number of characters may be substituted there. Using your example, you would enter amort!. This would retrieve amortizing, as well as the other variations you mentioned.
When you are using more than one search term in your expression, you can use proximity connectors to specify a relationship between the terms.
For example, suppose you want to search for documents relating to a tax credit allowed for corporate investment in research facilities. Instead of using the search expression "investment tax credit and research", try using the expression investment tax credit w/20 research. The w/# proximity connector tells the system to search for documents in which the search terms appear within 20 words from each othernot just the same document. These documents are more likely to be relevant to your research.
At the Main Menu, select items to search by clicking the checkbox next to them.
Type your search expression in the word search box (e.g., investment tax credit w/20 research).
Click the Search Tools button.
In the Search Methods section, click the drop-down arrow and select Boolean.
Click the Search Now button to perform the search immediately with the options you just set. Your results will appear on screen. To set new options for another search, you'll need to click the Clear Selections link first and then set your new options for the next search.
There are many ways you can search for documents, but one of the most effective is to search document "segments" or sections. All documents on the system are divided into segments. For example, every document has a heading segment and every case has a case name segment.
You can specify that the system look for keywords in a particular segment of the document. For example, if you are looking for a document on the topic of interest rates, you could search for the phrase interest rates in the heading segment to improve your chances of finding documents that pertain to your topic.
At the Main Menu for your research product, click the tab that you wish to search in.
Click the checkbox next to an item.
Type your search term in the word search box (e.g., interest rates).
Click the Search Tools button.
In the Search methods section, click the down arrow and select All Terms.
In the Narrow Search By Part of a Document section, click the drop-down arrow to display the search segments available.
Type the letter H, and the list will scroll to the heading segment.
Click once on Heading.
Click the Search Now button to perform the search immediately with the options you just set. Your results will appear on screen. To set new options for another search, you'll need to click the Clear Selections link first and then set your new options for the next search.
Notice that all the documents in your results include the phrase "interest rates" in the heading or title of the document.
If you are interested only in documents from a certain date or range of dates, you can add a date restriction to your search expression and you will retrieve only those documents that fall within that date range.
Many documents
on CCH research products such as CCH Explanations, laws, and regulations
have the current year as the default date and cannot be retrieved by a
date restricted search. Date restricted searches will retrieve only those
documents that contain an "issuance" date, such as cases, rulings,
and administrative releases.
At the appropriate tab, select the items you want to search by clicking the checkboxes next to them.
Type your search terms in the word search box on the button bar.
Click the Search Tools button.
Click the Search By Date link under Narrow Search By Date.
Under Select Range, click the drop-down arrow and select either None, Before, On, After, or Between.
In the spaces provided, select the month and type in the day and year for the restriction.
If
you select Between, the
second set of boxes is enabled to specify a date range for your search.
Example: Between January 1, 2001
January 1, 2002
Click the Search Now button to perform the search immediately with the options you just set. Your results will appear on screen. To set new options for another search, you'll need to click the Clear Selections link first and then set your new options for the next search.
Your results will include only those documents from the date you specified.
Your Research NetWork product includes a feature that can help you quickly find the most relevant documents on a Search Results List.
All you need to do is select Display words around hits on results list in the Search Results section of Preferences (if you want this option set for every research session) or Search Tools (if you want this option set for only the current research session). This way when you results list appears on your screen you can see all of your search terms highlighted right on your results list so quickly scan your results to find the relevant documents.
If your search ends up with a longer than expected list of documents, you dont have to start a new search from scratch to narrow the results. Instead, you can search through all the documents on the Search Results List using a more specific expression. The system will then look through each document on the list for the new search expression.
With the Search Results List on your screen, just type your new expression in the word search box and click Search. Your new search expression should be more specific about the subject you are researching. For example, if your original search expression was "credit," try a more specific search such as "investment tax credit" or "economic development zone credit".
A new search results list will appear on your screen.
You can view your search results "by Table of Contents," which will show you where the document is located within a publication with the number of search term hits found noted. You can set this option in Preferences for all searches you run, or in Search Tools for the current search only. For more information on displaying your search results by Table of Contents, click here.
As you work, you can set aside important documents youve found in a separate list called a Research Folder. You can then print or save the documents on the list all at one time. In addition, you can maintain multiple Research Folders to help you better organize your research.
With the document on your screen or checked on a document list, click Add or Add Document to Research Folders.
The Research Folder will open, displaying the name of the document you added (as well as any other documents you have added previously).
To return to the document, click Return to Document View.
You can display your Research Folders whenever you need it during your research session just by clicking the Research Folders link on the navigation bar.
For more details on Research Folders, click here.