OASIS Program Planner Search Tips

Program Planner Search Functions

The Online Program Planner's search functions allow you to produce focused session and presentation lists you can use to select items to add to your itinerary. The following search methods are available. Click the titles to jump to more detailed information and instructions.

Basic Search with Boolean Search Operators
The Basic Search works like the search function you find on many Internet sites. You enter one or more keywords into a search box, and the Program Planner displays a list of results that match a term in the fields searched.

To perform Boolean Searches, use + before a word to include it, and a - before a word to exclude it. For example, if you typed:

thermal +nociceptive -stimulated

The search will return all records that include the terms "thermal" and "nociceptive" but do NOT include "stimulated". You can also use double quotes around a series of terms to find an exact match to that series.

Browse Search
The Browse Search offers several pre-defined browsing options, typically session type, session category, and date. These give you focused lists in which you can drill down to specific sessions and presentations.

Advanced Search
The Advanced Search offers several pre-defined search fields (type, title, author name, date, etc.) that can help you rapidly locate specific presentations or groups of presentations that contain the search term in the fields.

Basic Search
To perform a Basic Search, use the Search box at the top left of the screen:

Enter one or more keywords.
Select a display option (Presentations or Sessions).
Click the Search button.

Note:

The Clear Search button directly next to the Search box clears only the Search box. It does not clear any other fields on the screen.

The Advanced Search has its own Clear Search button that appears in the body of the screen.

The display options specify how you want the results displayed. The Presentations option produces a 3-column display of individual presentations (shown below), each with a checkbox you can use to add the presentation to your itinerary.

Select the presentations you want to add to your itinerary and click the button labeled

This button appears at both the top and bottom of the list.

The Sessions option produces a 2-column display of individual sessions (shown below).

Notice that there are no selection checkboxes here. To make a selection, click a session name. You'll see another screen— with checkboxes—that lists all of the session's presentations. From there you can add individual presentations or the entire session to your itinerary.

Entering Keywords
Enter as many or as few keywords as you like. The Basic Search gives priority to exact matches with all of the keywords you enter in the order you enter them. If, for instance, you enter arrhythmia stent angioplasty, your results will list first the presentations or sessions in which those words appear in exactly that order somewhere within presentation or session titles, author blocks (unlikely), or abstracts. The rest of the results will be for items that include arrhythmia or stent or angioplasty. If you want only exact matches, use phrase searching.

Phrase Searches
To specify an exact match of your keywords, enclose them in quotes. For instance, to search for a name you might enter "John J. Smith". The quotes limit your results to only those items in which John J. Smith appears in that exact order. Without the quotes, you'd also get items that include John or J. or Smith, but not necessarily all three or in that order.

Note: When you enter a series of keywords that includes one or more "noise" words (described below), you may get additional results that do not match your word pattern exactly. These additional results are equivalent to what you get with the basic search.

Common ("Noise") Words
The search function ignores common words such as the, that, and, of, which, etc. These are sometimes called noise words, words that can complicate—and slow down—a search, often without adding much value to the results. If you feel one of these words is important to your search, use a phrase search (quotes) or plus (+) search.

You cannot enter only noise words, even if you use phrase or plus searching. If the only keyword(s) you to enter are ignored words, you'll get a message to that effect. Reenter your search by adding at least one additional word. You can retain the ignored word by using a phrase search (quotes) or plus (+) search.

Plus (+) Searches
Plus searches let you include a common ("noise") keyword that would otherwise be ignored. For example, search ignores the common word that. If you feel you need that in your search, you can include it by placing a plus sign (+) in front of it. For example:

keyword +that

There must be a space before the plus sign.

Minus (-) Searches
Minus searches lets you exclude titles that contain words you're not interested in. For example, you might be interested in study results, but only those that are final rather than preliminary. You can exclude the word preliminary by placing a minus sign (-) in front of it:

study results -preliminary

There must be a space before the minus sign.

OR Searches
An OR search lets you enter two keywords and specify that you want results that include either one (or both):

final OR preliminary

You can enter OR in either upper- or lowercase.

Advanced Search
To perform an Advanced Search, Click the Advanced Search button near the top of the screen:

You'll get another screen with an area similar to the following sample (may vary depending on your organization's preferences):

The field labels indicate criteria available for searching your meeting's sessions. To perform a search:

Select and/or type something in one or more of the fields.
Select a display option at the bottom of the screen (Presentations or Sessions).
Click the Proceed with Search button at the bottom of the screen:

If you make a mistake or want to clear the search fields before entering new search terms, click the Clear Search button.

Important:

When Advanced Search is displayed, there are two Clear Search buttons on the screen. To clear the Advanced Search fields, click the one under the Advanced Search heading (in the body of the screen). This button does not clear the Search box at the top of the screen. However, it is not necessary to clear that box to perform an Advanced Search.

The system determines which search you want when you click a search button. If you click the Proceed with Search button at the bottom of the screen, the system performs the Advanced Search using the search terms you have entered in the Advanced Search fields. If you click the Search button at the top of the screen, the system performs a Basic Search using the search term(s) in the Search box at the top of the screen.

If you return to this screen to perform another search, keywords you used for a previous search may still appear in the fields. You can also use the Clear Search button to clear those fields with one click before entering new keywords.

Depending on your organization's requirements, the Advanced Search screen you see may or may not include all of the fields shown above. Brief descriptions of the fields shown in the sample follow.

Session Number(s)
Use this box to enter one or more session numbers. Multiple entries can be used, separated with a comma (e.g., 101, 102, 103); or ranges can be used, separated with a dash (e.g., 101-103).

Session Type
This drop down box contains a list of session types defined by your organization for your meeting. You can select a session type and click Proceed with Search to see a list of all sessions of that type. You can also search within a session type by adding additional criteria in one or more of the other fields.

Session Title
This drop down box lists the titles of sessions at your meeting. Select a title and click Proceed with Search to see session details.

If a drop down list is not present, use this box to enter a single keyword you expect to find in session titles. You can enter multiple keywords; however, the search looks for an exact match. Therefore, if you enter multiple keywords they must appear in a title in the order you enter them. For example, new perspectives would find a title like New Perspectives on Something, but not find New Organizational Structure: Member Perspectives.

Scientific Section
This drop down lists the scientific sections of your meeting. Select a section and click Proceed with Search to see the results.

Program Number(s)
Use this box to enter one or more program numbers. Multiple entries can be used, separated with a comma (e.g., 101, 102, 103); or ranges can be used, separated with a dash (e.g., 101-103).

Keyword Title/Text
A presentation's author and/or your organization may have assigned keywords to presentations for classification purposes. If you're familiar with these keywords, you can enter one in this field. Multiple keywords will not return a result. If your organization uses this feature, this field may have a drop down list of valid keywords.

Institution
Enter the name of an institution that an author or presenter you're interested in is associated with. This search looks for an exact match. You may get better results if you use a single word. For example, the major state university in Illinois (USA) is called University of Illinois. Many faculty and alumni refer to it simply as Illinois. If you use the one-word institution name, you'll find either form the author may have used.

Reviewing Code
This drop down lists the reviewing codes of your meeting. Select a code and click Proceed with Search to see the results.

Authors
Use these fields to enter the last name or first initials of authors; multiple authors are allowed. This field searches for all authors including first authors and co-authors. If more than one name is entered, the search results show all presentations with either one or the other author name.

Session Date/Times
Check one or more of the boxes in this area to limit your search to specific dates and/or times.

Browse Search
To perform a Browse Search, Click the Browse button near the top of the screen:

You'll get another screen with browsing options similar as shown below:

Click a link in one of the option groups to get a corresponding list of sessions. A link under the Day group, for example, brings up of all sessions scheduled for that day:

Notice that there are no selection checkboxes here. To make a selection, click a session name. You'll see another screen— with checkboxes—that lists all of the session's presentations. From there you can add individual presentations or the entire session to your itinerary.