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Use the form below to search for documents in the MPC site containing specific words or combinations of words. The search engine will display a list of matching documents. Each list item is a link to a matching document; if the document has a title it will be shown, otherwise only the document's file name is displayed. A brief explanation of the query language is available, along with examples.

Match: Format: Sort by:

Search:
 
Limit by Date:    From: / /

  To:    / /  
To limit by date, check the box and enter the dates you would like to search within.  

Query Language

This list gives the rules for formulating queries:

  • Multiple consecutive words are treated as a phrase; they must appear in the same order within a matching document.
  • Queries are case-insensitive, so you can type your query in uppercase or lowercase.
  • You can search for any word except for those in the exception list (for English, this includes a, an, and, as, and other common words), which are ignored during a search.
  • Words in the exception list are treated as placeholders in phrase and proximity queries. For example, if you searched for Crime and Punishment, the results could give you Crime or Punishment and Crime and Punishment, because or is a noise word and appears in the exception list.
  • Punctuation marks such as the period (.), colon (:), semicolon (;), and comma (,) are ignored during a search.
  • To use specially treated characters such as &, |, ^, #, @, $, (, ), in a query, enclose your query in quotation marks ().
  • To search for a word or phrase containing quotation marks, enclose the entire phrase in quotation marks and then double the quotation marks around the word or words you want to surround with quotes. For example, World-Wide Web or Web searches for World-Wide Web or Web.
  • You can use Boolean Operators (AND, OR, and NOT) and the Proximity Operator (NEAR) to specify additional search information.
  • The Wildcard Character (*) can match words with a given prefix. The query esc* matches the terms ESC, escape, and so on.

Boolean and Proximity Operators

Boolean and proximity operators can create a more precise query.

To Search For Example Results
Both terms in the same page House and Senate
Or
House & Senate
Pages with both the words house and senate
Either term in a page police or sheriff
Or
police | sheriff
Pages with the words police or sheriff
The first term without the second term federal and not local
Or
federal and !local
Pages with the word federal but not local
Both terms in the same page, close together civil near rights
Or
civil ~ rights
Pages with the word civil near the word rights

Wildcards

Wildcard operators help you find pages containing words similar to a given word.

To Search For Example Results
Words with the same prefix comput* Pages with words that have the prefix comput, such as computer, computing, and so on
Words based on the same stem word fly** Pages with words based on the same stem as fly, such as flying, flown, flew, and so on

Free Text Queries

Use Free Text Queries if you want to enter queries using natural language. Index Server will examine your query, extract nouns and noun phrases and construct a query for you. With free text queries you can enter any text you want, from a proper question, to a string of words and phrases, without worrying about the query language. For example, if you type in the following query:

"Any discussion paper concerning mood swings."

Index Server will create a query for you automatically and begin the search. Note that when you're using free text queries, the regular query language features are disabled and keywords such as AND, OR, and NEAR are interpreted as normal words.