Database Search Help
Here you'll find a brief overview of how to use the publication database's search options and features, including:
Search
Use search keywords and search fields separately or in combination, as well as some general search tips, to help refine your search.
Search by Keyword(s)
A keyword search finds publications with the search term(s) in the title, abstract, or keyword fields. Use this search for general, quick searching.
- Keyword search results display only those publications that contain all of your search terms.
- For stem searches, use the wildcard "*".
EXAMPLES: hydrog* retrieves hydrogen and hydrogenated; fuel* retrieves fuel and fuels
Search by Field(s)
To refine your search, enter terms in one or more of the following fields:
Title
Type in a specific title, part of a title, or word(s) in a title. Then select one of the following options (or search operators) from the drop-down menu.
- includes all — Search results display publications that contain every word in their title.
EXAMPLE: hybrid vehicles
Results include publications with both hybrid and vehicles in their title. - includes any — Search results display publications that contain at least one of the words in their title.
EXAMPLE: hybrid vehicles
Results include publications with either hybrid or vehicles in their title. - includes the phrase — Search results display publications that contain the exact phrase in their title.
EXAMPLE: hybrid vehicles
Results include publications with hybrid vehicles in their title, but not publications with hybrid electric vehicles in their title.
Author
Records contain an author's last name, first initial, and sometimes second initial. John Smith will not return any results. You can search for one or multiple authors using one of the following options (search operators):
- includes all — Limits the search results to all publications by an author or multiple authors.
EXAMPLE: smith
Results will include publications with any Smith as author.
EXAMPLE: smith & jones (when searching for co-authors)
Results will include publications with both Smith and Jones as authors. - includes any — Limits the search results to all publications that contain at least one of the authors' names, with or without the other author.
EXAMPLE: smith jones
Results will include publications with either Smith or Jones as author. - includes the phrase — Use this option to limit your search to a particular author(s). Especially useful when searching for a common last name.
EXAMPLE: smith r
EXAMPLE: smith r & jones j (when searching for coauthors)
Results will include publications by Roger Smith but not Ken Smith.
To exclude an author (i.e., smith and not jones), enter one of the authors in the Author field. Then go to the drop-down menu next to the Report Number field and select Author. Enter another author's last name in this field, and select AND NOT in the Field Connector drop-down menu.
Source
To limit your search to papers authored by NREL staff but published in commercial or society publications (e.g., journals or books), type in a journal name(s), conference name(s)/sponsor(s), or book name(s), etc. Then select one of the following options (or search operators) from the drop-down menu:
- includes all — Limits the search results to journals, conferences, or books that contain every word in their titles.
EXAMPLE: applied physics
Results will include any source with both applied and physics in their title (e.g., Journal of Applied Physics, Applied Physics Letters). - includes any — Search results display journals, conferences, or books that contain at least one of the words in their titles.
EXAMPLE: applied physics
Results will include sources with either applied or physics in their title (e.g., Applied Biotechnology, Physics of Semiconductors). - includes the phrase — Limits search results to journal, conference, or book titles that contain
words in the exact order you've typed, including stopwords (e.g., "a," "the," "of," and "for").
EXAMPLE: journal of applied
Results will include Journal of Applied Physics, but not Applied Physics Letters.
Publication Year
Type in a year anytime from 1977 to the current year. Then select one of the following options (or search operators) from the drop-down menu:
- equals — Limits results to publications developed/published that year.
- greater than — Limits results to all publications developed/published after that year.
- greater than or = (equal) — Includes all publications developed/published that year and following that year.
- less than — Limits results to publications developed/published before that year.
- less than or = (equal) — Includes all publications developed/published that year and before that year.
- not = (equal) — Excludes all publications developed/published that year. Search for a range of dates using a colon between the years.
EXAMPLE: 2002:2005
More Fields...
For more advanced searching, select one or two of the following options from the More Fields drop-down menus:
- Abstract — Select Abstract from the More Fields drop-down menu. Type in a word(s) to find publications that contain this word(s) in their abstracts. Note: not all publication records include abstracts.
- Author — See Author under Search Fields.
- Document Type — Select Document Type from the More Fields drop-down menu. Type in one of the following 2-letter codes to limit search results to a certain type of document:
- BK Books, booklets, or conference and workshop proceedings
- BR Brochures or newsletters
- CD CD-ROM's
- CH Chapter in book or report
- CP Conference or workshop papers
- FS Fact sheets
- JA Journal articles
- MP Milestone reports
- PO Poster sessions for conferences
- PR Presentations
- SR Subcontract reports
- TP Technical/Research reports
- Report Numbers — Select Report Numbers from the More Fields drop-down menu. Type in a publication's NREL or DOE/GO number, which is usually listed on the publication. Quick way to find a specific publication.
EXAMPLES: 39423; TP-540-39423
To locate multiple reports, separate report numbers with a comma.EXAMPLE: 21718,21719,22197
- Source — See Source under Search Fields.
- Title — See Title under Search Fields.
Search Field Connector
To determine how search criteria are combined, select one of the following from the drop-down menu:
- AND — Retrieves only those records that meet the criteria typed in all selected search fields.
- OR — Retrieves records that meet the criteria typed in at least one or all of the selected search fields.
- AND NOT — Retrieves publication records that meet the first search criteria typed in a field but not the criteria typed in a following field.
Search Tips
Here are some general tips for searching.
- Case Insensitive — Uppercase or lowercase may be used when searching. Search results will be the
same.
EXAMPLES: Nanotube; nanotube; NanoTube
- Truncation — Truncation is not supported.
- Wildcard — The wildcard "*" is supported. Use "*" for stem searches.
EXAMPLES: hydrog* retrieves hydrogen and hydrogenated; fuel* retrieves fuel and fuels
Sort Results
To determine how the results will be displayed, use the following fields under Sort Results:
Sort By
Select one of the following options from the drop-down menu for sorting search results:
- Publication Year — Displays search results by publication year, depending on the sort direction selected.
- Title — Displays search results by title, depending on the sort direction selected.
- Source — Displays search results by publication source (outside of NREL), depending on the sort direction selected.
Sort Order
Select one of the following options from the drop-down menu for sorting search results:
- Ascending — Displays search results in alphabetical or chronological order, depending on the sort by option selected.
- Descending — Displays search results in the reverse of alphabetical or chronological (most recent) order, depending on the sort by option selected.
Results per Page
From the drop-down menu, select the number—25, 50, 100, or 500—of results/records you'd like displayed per page.
Search Results
After you initiate the search, a Search Results page will appear with a list of bibliographic citations per your search, and sort and display results criteria.
- If you click on the link within a citation, a Document Summary page of the record will appear, including abstract (if available) and additional information relating to the selected document.
If an electronic version of a document is available for downloading, an Adobe PDF icon with file size will appear to the left of a citation on the Search Results page and at the bottom of the Document Summary page. Download Adobe Reader.
Export Results
To download search results to an Excel spreadsheet, select one of the following from the bottom of the Search Results page:
Export to Excel
Creates and downloads a spreadsheet that lists the following for each publication: author name(s), publication year, title, parent title, editor, publisher/place, volume number, issue number, issue date, pages/volumes, and report numbers.
Export with Abstracts
Creates and downloads a spreadsheet like Export to Excel except it also includes abstracts if available for each publication.