At its simplest, a search query can be just a word. But with the tips below, you can refine your search to give you more complete results.

• Look for a phrase.
  Example - type polymer elastomer to find the exact phrase polymer elastomer. Since the search is not case-sensitive, this is equivalent to POLYMER ELASTOMER.

• Look for two or more words at once by using the AND operator.
  Example - type polymer AND elastomer to find records that have both the word polymer and the word elastomer anywhere.

• Look for words that are close to each other by using the NEAR operator instead of the AND operator. When you use NEAR, the closer together the words are, the higher the rank of the page, so the higher it appears in the list of search results.
  Example - type polymer NEAR elastomer to match records where the word polymer is within 50 words of the word elastomer.

• Look for synonyms or similar words by using the OR operator. Note that if you don't use the OR operator and search using multiple words, the words are treated as a phrase.
  Example - type carbon OR hydrocarbon to find the word hydrocarbon or the word carbon, but not necessarily both.

• Limit your search by using the AND NOT operator to exclude words.
  Example - type elastomer AND NOT technology to find all instances of elastomer, as long as elastomer is not on a page with the word technology.

• Use double quotes if you want to use AND, OR, NOT, or NEAR literally.
  Example - type "polymer near chemicals" to find records with the phrase polymer near chemicals. Without the double quotes, this query would use the NEAR operator instead of the phrase.

• Use a single asterisk (*) to look for words that begin with the same letters.
  Example - type perform* to find perform, performing, performance, and so on.

• Use a double asterisk (**) to look for all forms of a word.
  Example - type fly** to match fly, flew, flown, and flying.