Golden Gate University Search Tips

Welcome to our Site Search Tips page. While we hope you rarely have to use site search, here are some tips that should help you find exactly what you are looking for.

By default, the search engine only returns pages that include all of your search terms. There is no need to include "and" between terms.

However, the search engine supports query operators, such as Boolean, phrasing, and wildcard methods which you can use to increase the accuracy of your search. Below is a list of Boolean arguments and some examples to help you refine your search:

AND + (plus)

The search engine supports the AND argument, or the + (plus) which requires the search term(s) to be present in a document in order for it to qualify as a hit. You can restrict your search further just by including more terms. In the example below, the words Golden, Gate, and the phrase "class schedule" must all be present in a document in order for it to show up on the search results page. The example below, the words class and schedule must both be present in a document in order for it to show up on the search results page.

NOT - (minus)

Sometimes you need to refine your search by eliminating documents that are not relevant to your search. You can do so by excluding a word from your search. Simply put a minus sign ("-") immediately in front of the term you want to avoid. Note that there should be a space before the minus sign. In the example below, the words class and schedule are required, however, the word calendar must not be present in order for a document to show up on the search results page. The same thing can be accomplished with + and - operators in the example below.

OR | (pipe)

You can use the OR argument or the | (pipe) sign between your search terms to retrieve pages that include any of these terms. Note that OR is uppercase. This is useful to include additional search query parameters in addition to your required parameters. In the example below, the word class is required, but the word course is not -- however, if it is present in a document, it will indicate a higher relevancy.

"phrase search"

To search for an exact phrase, put it in quotes. In the example below, any instance of the complete phrase "Golden Gate University" present in a document will show up on the search results page. Note that the words must be in exact order as typed between the quotation marks.

Wildcard *

Wildcard searches can expand the number of matches for a particular request. The * (asterisk) character is used as the wildcard character. The wildcard can only appear at the end of a search term, and at least two characters must be provided before the wildcard * argument. In example below, all matching documents that contain words that begin with the characters wh and contain the word Smith will show up on the search results page:

Examples of words that satisfy the Wh* wildcard search term are: When, why, whether and any other word that starts with wh.