Search Tips

This page can be found at http://www.asaefoundation.org/Search/searchtip.cfm

The following tips are provided to help you get the best search results from our website. If you have a question about using our site search that isn’t covered below, please e-mail us.

Getting Started

To begin your search, type a few words describing the resource or item you are searching for into the search box and click the adjacent button. In response to your search, you will receive a list of site pages containing the words you entered into the box with the most relevant results at the top of the page.

Choosing Keywords

For improved results, try the following keyword selection tips:

Be specific. If you are looking for a book, (e.g. 7 Measures of Association Success) try searching for the title rather than book or association book.

Try adding additional words. If you are looking for a resource outlining how to evaluate an RFP, consider searching evaluating an RFP instead of the broader term RFP.

Getting the Best Results (Using Operators)

Operators allow you to refine or broaden search terms in order to generate desired results. The operators that work with our site search are:

And: Google, the search engine used on our site, returns only results including all of your search terms. There is no need to include "and" between terms.
For example: A search for Association Management will deliver all results containing the word Association AND the word Management on the same page.

Or: If you are looking for one of two possible words, type both words separated by or to get matches containing either word.

For example: A search for Association OR Management will deliver all results containing the word Association as well as all results containing the word Management.

Quotes: Use quotes to keep words together as part of a specific phrase.

For example: A search for “Association Management” will deliver all results containing the words Association and Management next to each other on the page.

Subtract/Exclude (-): If a term has more than one meaning, or is typically associated with another word you do not want included in your results, you can exclude a word using the minus symbol (-) in front of the word you wish to exclude.

For example: A search for -Association Management will deliver all results containing the word Management but not the word Association.

Add/Include (+): By default, our search engine excludes common words from your search such as ‘on, for, and about.’ If a common word is critical to a particular search, use the plus symbol (+) in front of the word you wish to include in your search.

For example: A search for Resources on Association Management will deliver results containing Resources, Association and Management. However, a search for Resources +on Association Management will search the word on in addition to the base search terms. You can also use the quote method above to ensure common words are included in your search.

Mix it up: Consider using the operators above in combination with publication titles and authors, if known, to find the resources you’re looking for.

Capitalization

Our search engine is not case sensitive.

For example: Searches for CEO or ceo will all return the same results.

Plurals, Wildcards and Variations

Our search engine recognizes some variations on words and phrases. When appropriate, it will search not only for your exact search terms, but also for words that are similar.

For example: a search on Corporate Sponsors will include results containing Corporate Sponsorship and Corporate Sponsorships.

Refine Your Results

You can refine your search results by clicking the link next to the icon representing the resources you wish to include in your results.

For example: a search on Association Management, generates 7500 results. By clicking the link for ‘models and samples’ you’ll refine your results to only include the 73 models and samples including the words Association and Management.

You can refine your results for each of the following resource types:

Articles and Whitepapers	Meetings & Programs	ASAE & The Center Store
Great Idea List	Innovation & Excellence Case Studies	Models & Samples
Newsletters	Entire ASAECenter.org Website

Advanced Search

Use our advanced search page when you know what type of publication you want to search or need resources from a specific time period. You can set the following options on our advanced search page:

Resource Type: Ensure you only get the resources you want by clicking the box next to the resource type(s) (e.g. Models and Samples, Online Store, Newsletter, etc.) you want to include in your search. You can select as many resources types as you’d like.

By default, the ‘entire asaecenter.org web site’ is selected. To limit your results, first deselect that option by clicking the adjacent box.

Published: Limit your search by the date an item was added to our system. Enter the dates you want included in your search and then determine if you want the results to display in date ascending (oldest first) or descending (newest first) order.