“Did I find what I was looking for?”
“Is better information still out there?”
Searching is a process, not an event. Searching a database is not about
spending time and mental energy formulating a “golden query” that will retrieve
all desired information in a single stroke. In practice, searching usually
consists of issuing a succession of queries until you are satisfied with the
results.
1. Choose a search strategy:
| any of |
Choose “any of” to search for records
containing any of the words in the box: any of plus
the search terms snow mountain would find all
records containing either of those words. This acts like the Boolean
OR operator, and is the default operator at FOOTAGE.net. |
| all of |
Choose “all of” to search for records
containing all the words in the box: all of plus
the search terms airplane takeoff would find only
those records that contain both words. This acts like the Boolean
AND operator. |
| exactly |
Choose “exactly” to search for records
containing exactly the phrase in the box: exactly plus
the search terms north sea finds instances of the
exact phrase “North Sea.” This acts like the Boolean ADJ
operator. |
2. Type your search terms in the search box
Enter words in the search box that best describe what you are looking for.
Start with broad descriptive words first, review what’s available, then begin
refining your search by using more specific words.
3. Choose a database to search
Select the database to search. Leave it set to “All FOOTAGE.net databases” to
search all databases in parallel. Or, choose a specific database from the
pulldown list.
4. Click the “Find Footage” button, or press Return
or Enter
Your results will be displayed in a relevancy-ranked order. Sources with the
most hits on your search term or terms are displayed at the top of the list.
Some important things to keep in mind:
The default operator at FOOTAGE.net, any of, helps
guarantee at least some results each time you run a search. Also, the database
search engine performs automatic stemming, a
process that takes a word like run and looks for
all instances of run, running, runs, etc.