Searching the NCEA Web Site

Searching our Web Site has improved greatly. Our former site relied on Boolean Searching, i.e., you were require to join multiple words in a search with words like and, or, not in order to get meaningful results and the user often had to resort to single word searching since boolean searching is a rather obscure skill. In the new site, you may search for single words, multiple words and phrases. You can get very specific with the phrase by enclosing it in quotes and it will search for that exact phrase and in the order as you have listed the words. This is the way that is is done in the really successful search engines like Google and Yahoo.

Search skill is something that each user must develop on their own based on their familiarity with the topic being searched for. It is very much like fishing and we offer these tips -

1. Start your search with the least number of words to describe the topic, e.g. Early Childhood
   At this writing, that will return 53 pages that use the words early childhood somewhere in the text. Case is not important in searching so you need not worry about capitalization.
   Casting the largest net will catch the most fish.
2. Narrow your search using the new search box at the top of the search results page that contains your original search criteria. In this case and since early childhood is a recognized specialty, place quotes around the words ("Early Childhood"} and the results will be narrowed to 17 - a manageable number for review. Looking through those 17, you will notice different contexts - department related; convention related and No Child Left Behind Act.
   Throw back the little fish and keep the big ones. If no big ones, throw them all back.
3. If what you were looking for is not in the list, simply return to the search box at the top of the page and redefine your criteria.
   Recast your net!

Good luck and we hope you find what you are searching for.