Searching with QuickSearch

QuickSearch is a simple way to search a selected set of resources.

Each set (called a Quickset) includes up to 15 resources in a specific subject area. Quicksets are not comprehensive. The full range of resources for a subject area is available in MetaSearch.

Enter your search terms and select a subject area from the dropdown menu, then click on Go.
You will be prompted to login using your Murdoch Username and Password.

If you are already connected to the Library Portal, select QuickSearch from the menu at the top of the screen.

• Select a Quickset to search by clicking on the radio button.
• Select either Simple or Advanced search, enter your search terms, and click on Go.  
• To see what is included in a QuickSet, click on the title. A new window will open listing the contents of the QuickSet.

Entering Your Search Terms

• To search for articles that contain all of the specified words, enter the list of words. For example: education children will return all articles containing both words.

• To search for a phrase use quotation marks. For example: "global warming"

• Use OR to find articles with at least one of the words present. For example: corn OR maize
  
• Use NOT to find articles with the first word but not the second word. For example: energy NOT nuclear
  

• Truncation: Use a question mark (?) for truncation. For example:
  comput? will find computing, computers, computerisation.

• Field Searching: Use Advanced search to limit your search to a specific field like Subject, Year or Author.
  To search for multiple years, use OR like this: 2000 OR 2001 OR 2002.

QuickSearch Results

QuickSearch Results displays the combined results found in all the searched databases that have returned results.

Results can be displayed in three views: Table View, Brief View and Full View. You can toggle between the different views. The screen below is Brief View.

The records are sorted according to a ranking algorithm. You can resort the results by year, title, author or database.

You can click the MetaSearch link in order to see your search results in the MetaSearch module, where you can view the results per database, refine the search, or save the query for future sessions.

The Summary link enables you to return to the list of resulting databases that was displayed while the QuickSearch was searching.

Once you have browsed through the initial set of results, you will be given the option to retrieve further results using the “Get More” button.

A larger set of results, including your first set, will be displayed. The new results will be integrated into the list of results, and will be bolded. You can repeat this process to retrieve further records.

Clusters and Facets

The Clusters and Facets panel appears on the right side of the Search Result pages and enables an at-a-glance view of the results according to their topic, date, author and Journal Title.

To filter the records in the search results list (in the left panel) by a cluster topic or by a facet (date, author or Journal Title), click one of the topic or facet nodes. Only those records belonging to the selected topic or facet will be displayed in the left panel.

To view all records retrieved in the last search, click All retrieved records. The list will be displayed according to the last sort order.

Note that clustering is performed only on merged lists. Since by default all results in QuickSearch are returned as merged lists, clustering is always displayed in the QuickSearch Table and Brief Views.