Tips On Using The SPARC Search Engine
The SPARC search engine helps you find specific pages on this website. You tell the search engine what you're looking for by typing in keywords, phrases, or questions in the search box, and the search engine gives you back a list of all the web pages on the SPARC site relating to those topics. The most relevant content (closest matches) will appear at the top of the list.
How To Use:
- Type your keywords in the search box.
- Press the Search button to start your search.
Here's an example:
Let's say you want to find out about hiring an attorney.
- Type hire attorney or hiring attorney in the search box.
- Press the Search button or press the Enter key.
-
The Search Results page will show you all pages on the SPARC site that have those words. Chances are, those pages have something to do with hiring attorneys.
General Suggestions
Don't worry if you find a large number of results. In fact, you might want to use more than a couple of words when searching. Even though the number of results may be large, the most relevant content will always appear at the top of the result pages.
If you aren't finding any matches to your queries, check your spelling. Spelling errors foil more searches than anything else. You should also try using words with similar meanings (also check for spelling errors). You can also try using the "Match Any Of The Words" option (you'll probably want to use fewer words with this kind of search). Generally speaking, it's better to search for the singular form of a word rather than the plural form (i.e. search for father, not fathers). Plural-form searches will often miss finding the items that you're looking for. You can also try "wildcard" searches using an asterisk (see below).
Simple Tips for More Exact Searches
When in doubt, use lowercase text. When you use lowercase, the search engine finds both upper and lowercase results. When you use UPPERCASE TEXT, the search engine finds only UPPERCASE.
Example: When you search for divorce, you'll find Divorce, divorce, and DIVORCE in your result pages. However, when you search for Divorce, you'll only see Divorce in the result pages.
You can link words and numbers together into phrases if you want specific words or numbers to appear together in your result pages. If you want to find an exact phrase, use "double quotation marks" around the phrase when you enter words in the search box.
You can also create phrases using punctuation or special characters such as dashes, underscore lines, commas, slashes, or dots. For example, try searching for 1-800-999-9999 instead of 1 800 999 9999. The dashes link the numbers together as a phrase.
Expand your search using wildcards ( * ):
By typing an asterisk ( * ) at the end of a keyword, you can search for the word with multiple endings.
Example: Try fath*, to find father, fathers, fathering, and fatherhood.
Including or excluding words:
To make sure that a specific word is always included in your search topic, place the plus (+) symbol before the key word in the search box. To make sure that a specific word is always excluded from your search topic, place a minus (-) sign before the keyword in the search box.
To find pages on custody issues that are related to false allegations, try: custody +false +allegations
Similarly, you may exclude a word by placing a minus ( - ) symbol in front of it.
Searching Different Parts Of The Site
The SPARC Search Engine has the ability to only search in selected areas of the site, such as the FAQ Center. To restrict your searches to a specific portion of the SPARC site, use the drop-down box to pick the part of the site you want to search.
