Tips on Searching...

At its simplest, a query can be just a word or a phrase. However, you can expand the focus of your query to return more complete results.  The following tips will help you to more easily find the information you're looking for on the Dutchess County website.

General Rules:

• Queries are not case sensitive.
• Do not use quotation marks in your query- they will be automatically removed.
• Look for words with the same prefix by using an "*".  For example, in the query textbox enter key* to find key, keying, keyhole, keyboard, etc.
• Search for all forms of a word by using "**".  For example, in the query textbox enter sink** to find sink, sinking, sank, and sunk.
• Ranking is indicated by the series of red buttons displayed next to each result returned from the query- five buttons being the highest rank (i.e. the result that most closely fits the criteria entered in the query textbox.) 
• Our search is configured to return only the top 300 results

Performing a Phrase Query:

Using the Phrase Query, you can search for a phrase by simply entering it into the search textbox.  The search engine treats the text entered as a single entity and the word sequence and their position as significant (no intervening words; words must be in a specific order.)   The Phrase Query will be performed if the user does not choose any of the other types of queries listed.

Performing an Advanced Query:

With the Advanced Query option selected you can search using the following keywords:

• near - use the near keyword to search webpage content for words located near each other.  The returned webpages are ranked in order of proximity- the closer together the words are in the content of the webpage, the higher the rank of that webpage (ex. county near executive).
• and not -  to search webpage content for a certain word without another, use the keywords and not in your search criteria (ex. motor and not vehicle).
• or - use the keyword or in your search criteria to find webpages that contain a specifc word or the another.  The results returned will contain webpages that mention either or both words.
• if any two or all of the keyword terms listed above are used with the Advanced Query option selected, the query will automatically change to a Phrase Query.

Performing an Auto-And Query:

With the AutoAND Query option selected all the words entered are automatically "anded" together.  Choose this option to find all the desired words in the same document.  For example, the query County Park becomes County and Park.

Performing a Free-Text Query:

With the Free-Text Query, word sequence and position within the document are insignificant to the search engine.  Returned results include webpages that contain content "about" the term(s) entered in the search criteria.  This type of query also includes word stemming- searching for words that are similar (or variations) to some or all of those terms entered in the query.  For example, a Free-Text search for the word diet may return webpages having the word(s) diets, dietary, dieting, etc.  Results from Free-Text are ranked by estimated relevance.