Search Help
10 Quick Tips to Help You Master Using NTP Search
Take a look at these tips to help you search NTP's website:
- Searches are not case sensitive. Capitalizing your search terms isn't nessesary. Searching for "mchm" is the same as "MCHM."
- Use checkboxes in the site panel to narrow your results.
- Use quotation marks to search for a phrase instead of individual words (BSC "BPA Peer Review").
- Ignore words in your search by adding a minus sign (BPA -plastic).
- Add words to your search by adding a plus sign (pathology +table).
- Use an asterisk for unknown terms (BSC * review).
- Use "and" to find pages or documents containing multiple search terms (hair dye and cancer).
- Use "or" to find pages or documents that contain either of your search terms (MCHM or "West Virginia").
- Checkboxes in the same section means it will search both areas.
For example: You select "Reports and Publications" and "BSC" in the same group to get results that are from both sections. - Checkboxes in separate section combines them in a search.
For example: Selecting a range under "Year" and "Excel" in "Formats" will show results of all Excel files from the year selected.
Search Operators
Searching the NTP website is as simple as entering a few keywords or phrases (such as: pathology table rats benzene). Once entered, search will find documents containing those same words and phrases.
If many results appear, it can be helpful to add symbols or search operators to help make your search more specific. Some examples and what they do are:
| Search Operator | Example | Finds |
|---|---|---|
| + | pathology +table | Pages that have the word table with or without pathology |
| and | pathology and table | Pages containing both Pathology and table |
| "Not" or "-" exclusion | pathology -table; or Pathology not table | Pathology pages that exclude the word table |
| * | TR-10* | TR-10, TR-10a, TR-1029, etc. |
| " " | "pathology table" | Matches the exact words and spacing |
| Or | pathology or table | Pages that have either pathology or table |
Special Characters & Patterns
If you're unsure how to search for a group of words, you can use the "@" operator to show combinations. Alternatively, using the "~" operator will turn off results that are synonyms to your keyword or phrase.
",", "@", "(",")", and "=" are special characters with specific meanings within our search system. Use "\" to remove a character's function.
| Search Operator | Example | Finds |
|---|---|---|
| @ | A B C D @1 | Combines terms like: AB or AC or AD or BC or BD or CD |
| ~ | ~PRC | Our search uses synonyms by default. adding ~ turns them off. For example: "~PRC" would search PRC, but not Project Review Committee |
| \ | \, | "1-Amino-2 ,4-dibromoanthraquinone" might not return expected results, but "1-Amino-2 \,4-dibromoanthraquinone" will show more logical results |
| \ | \( \) | " (o-Nitrophenyl )acetonitrile" might not return expected results, but " \(o-Nitrophenyl \)acetonitrile" will show more logical results |