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Search help

The easiest way to explore the ISN’s content holdings is via the search box at the top of every page.

Basic search

A basic search can be conducted via the search box. Just type in a word and click "Search" or hit the return key on your keyboard.

Using more than one word will help you refine your search further.

Phrases

Using quotation marks ( " ) around your search term will limit your results to documents with that exact phrase.

You can also use a minus sign ( - ) to specify a word that should be excluded in your search results.

Limiting your search by ISN service

You can use the drop-down menu to restrict your search to a specific ISN service (e.g. Security Watch, primary resources etc.).

Grouping or sorting search results

Search results can be sorted in one of two ways:

1. Sorting by relevance

Search results are automatically sorted by relevance, with the most relevant item at the very top.

2. Sorting by type

By clicking on "Type", the search results will be grouped by their content type (e.g. links, publications, events etc.). Each group will show the three most relevant documents. The order of the groups is determined by the relevance of the results in that group.

Advanced search

The advanced search can be accessed by clicking on the "Advanced search" link below the basic search box.

You will be presented with more possibilities to refine your search.

With all the words

The search engine will only return documents with all the words in the text.

Thus, searching for “UN forces” will return any document with the words “UN” and the “force” in it.

With exact phrase

The search engine will only return documents with the exact phrase you have entered.

Thus, searching for “UN forces” will return documents containing that exact term.

With at least one of the words

The search engine will return any document containing the words you have specified.Thus, searching for “UN forces” will return any document with the word “UN” or the word “forces”.

Without the words

You can also define which words should not appear in your search results. This works by putting a minus symbol ( - ) in front of the word in the search field.

Language

This drop-down menu allows you to search for documents in a specific language. Please note that most of the ISN’s content holdings are in English.

Region and Subject

You can refine your search further by defining the regions and subjects of interest to you.

All of the above fields can be combined as necessary.

Advanced search by type

The bar at the top of the advanced search box allows you to select the type of document you wish to search through. You can choose between Security Watch articles, events, publications, primary resources, links and the IR Directory listings.

In addition to the advanced search fields discussed above, each document type has its own unique properties that you can search through. These are listed below.

Security Watch

Security Watch results can be refined by searching through the title or body text of the article.

Thus, the following search would look for a Security Watch article with the word “UN” in the title and either “force” or “military” in the body text:

Publications

Publication results can be refined by searching in the title, description (or abstract), publisher or body text of the document. Results can be sorted alphabetically or by publication date.