• Basic Seach Tips
  • Search by State Content Standards
  • Search by Keyword
• Advanced Search Tips
• Search Troubleshooting

Basic Search Tips

Search by State Content Standards

Tips

1. Make sure the "State" box displays your state. If you haven't already done so, you can set your state to default within Account Settings.

2. If you use your state's standard naming convention, be sure to use periods and hyphens exactly as written in the standard (for example, in Kentucky you would type something like: MA-M-2.1.3).

   • SS.B.1.4.3 -- Entering this Florida standard code will produce the matching high school social studies standard.

     

3. If you don't know your state's naming system (or if your state doesn't use one), you can locate your state's standards with a keyword search. Within the Standard Search Box, enter a word that you know is in the text of a standard in your state.

   • Geographic -- This keyword, when searched within Florida's standards, will produce two standards.

     

Search by Keyword

Tips

1. The search engine is defaulted to an AND search. Therefore, if you type in two words, the results will only provide learning objects that include both of the keywords in their descriptions.

   • color wheel -- returns learning objects containing both the words color and wheel, but not necessarily together or even near each other.

2. The Learning Source search engine is not case sensitive relative to search terms themselves.

   • Typing in the keywords Edison, edison, and eDiSoN will produce the same results.

3. Keywords undergo a process called "suffix stemming" as they are indexed and searched. Suffix stemming is the process of breaking a word down to its linguistic root, stripping it of all suffixes. The search engine then searches for all words containing that root.

   • Physics -- This keyword will produce a search containing all words that share its common root physic, including physics, physical, and physically.

     If your search produces objects outside the topic or subject area you're interested in, try refining your search using the Advanced Search Tips.

4. Use specific, descriptive words instead of general ones.

   • Typing in photosynthesis instead of plants increases your chances of finding what you are looking for.

5. Choose keywords that are educationally significant to your topic, not general terms describing the plot of a video.

   • You will find better results with words like spectrum, energy, and light than you will with shopping or playground.

6. Narrow your search by grade level(s) to focus on learning objects targeted to your class's instructional level.

   • Searching for the keyword fractions without grade level restrictions will produce 31 results.

   • Narrowing the search for fractions in third and fourth grade only will produce three results, with content that was specifically designed for students in third and fourth grades.

Advanced Search Tips

The Learning Source search syntax is simple and follows a short list of rules.

1. You can use the Boolean logic operators OR and NOT to refine your search. Boolean operators must be written in all-capital letters, or they will be ignored.

   (NOTE: Because the search engine defaults to an AND search, there is no need to use this operator. Any two words written together are treated as if the operator AND is between them.)

   • vowel digraph -- returns results that contain both the words "vowel" and "digraph" (treated the same as vowel AND digraph).

   • hitler OR churchill -- returns results containing either the word "Hitler" or the word "Churchill." Some learning objects will contain both words; some will contain only one of them.

   • decimal NOT money -- returns results containing the word "decimal," but not if a learning object also contains the word "money."

2. Alternatively, you can substitute the characters "|" (pipe, on most PC keyboards, this is SHIFT + backslash) for OR and "!" (exclamation point) for NOT.

   • hitler | churchill -- produces the same results as the OR example above.

   • decimal ! money -- produces the same results as the NOT example above.

3. You can create sub-queries using parentheses.

   • (chordata OR taxonomy) NOT (fish OR reptile) -- returns all learning objects containing either "chordata" or "taxonomy," but not if it contains either "fish" or "reptile." (Sub-queries like this are useful if you want to find a learning object that describes either the taxonomy of organisms or animals in the phylum Chordata, but you don't want it to focus on fish or reptiles.)

   • Using characters instead of Boolean words, the following two search terms would be equivalent:

     • (reading NOT phonics) OR (vocabulary NOT contraction)
     • (reading!phonics)|(vocabulary!contraction)
     
     
     

4. Boolean operators cannot be used to counteract suffix stemming. In other words, you can't search with something like physics NOT physical -- but you may be able to narrow a search by eliminating words that often accompany unwanted versions of the keyword.

   • physics NOT (fitness OR therapy) -- will remove most learning objects about "physical fitness" or "physical therapy," increasing your chances of a relevant search.

Search Troubleshooting

• A learning object I know is available wasn't found when I did my search.

  Select another keyword and try again. There are a couple of reasons this might have happened.

  1. You may need to try a different form of the word. If you typed in the keyword flying, for example, try using flight instead.
  2. The keyword you searched for may not be a keyword that was identified for that learning object by the team of educators at The Learning Source.
     • Try to think of a similar term. For example, if you tried the grammar keyword article and don't find what you're looking for, try the synonymous keyword determiner instead.

  You should also check to make sure you haven't toggled an incorrect grade level on the search page. The object you're looking for might be targeted to a different grade level than the one you selected.

  
  
  
• I get a lot of stuff I don't want when I search by keyword.

  The keyword may have been too general and, therefore, found in learning objects across several subject areas or topics. This will produce too many learning objects for you to preview easily. For example, if you searched with the keyword compound for a language arts vocabulary lesson, your search might produce learning objects in economics (compound interest), science (compounds or compound microscope), or health (compound fracture) that contain that keyword.

  Use Boolean operators to narrow the search, or try searching by standard instead of keyword.

  1. Boolean operators -- If you get a lot of extraneous results when you just wanted language arts, type in the keyword: (compound word) NOT (microscope OR fracture OR interest).
  2. State content standard -- You can find learning objects that have been carefully correlated to instructional standards, eliminating the chances of results in unwanted subject areas.
  
  
  
• I tried Boolean operators to narrow my search results, but it eliminated all the results.

  1. The keywords in your Boolean search may have canceled out each other due to suffix stemming. For example, if you tried music NOT musicals, suffix stemming strips both of these keywords to the linguistic root "music," so your search actually means music NOT music, which produces nothing.

     Instead, use the NOT operator to remove a word that may be found along with the term you want to eliminate.

     • music NOT perform -- may help to eliminate learning objects about musicals.
  
  
  
• When I type a phrase into the Keyword Search Box, the search doesn't keep the words of the phrase together.

  Search results will include learning objects that contain each of the words in your phrase, but not necessarily together, or even near each other.

  However, the more qualifying words you use in a search, the better your chances of finding the learning object you want.

  • main idea -- Many learning objects may contain the words main and idea in them without actually addressing the reading topic "main idea"; but if you include the keywords comprehension or details, your search may produce better results.
  • newton's first law motion -- will return only those learning objects that contain all of the words newton, first, law and motion. (Notice the stop word "of" has been left out of the search string.) Since these words are probably only going to show up together in learning objects about this physical law, chances are you'll find what you're looking for.
  
  
  
• I couldn't find my state standard when I searched by standard name.

  Searching by standard name can be difficult if your state uses a complicated naming convention. Here are some things to try if your state's standards aren't coming up in a Standard Name search:

  • Check State box -- Make sure you are searching in the correct state. If you haven't done so already, you can change the default state in Account Settings.
  • Check Punctuation -- Make sure you use periods and hyphens exactly the way they appear in your state's online list of standards.
  • Use Correct Name -- The standards listed for your state have been taken from the online standards found at each state's Department of Education Web site. It is possible your state uses different names in different situations.
  • Try a Keyword Search instead -- If you still cannot find a particular standard, try searching with text from the standard itself.