Search Assist(ance) – iCode Support

Overview

Search Assist, which can be found within the Search Assistance tab beneath the search bar, helps users perform queries without having to know the search fields or syntax needed to achieve the desired results.

To create a query within the tool using Search Assist, first open the project you want to query in. Once you have done this, click on the Search Assist button under the search bar.

How to use Search Assist

Step 1.

Select the field(s) you wish to search within. You can select from the dropdown menu and/or start typing in a field name you would like to query, such as title or abstract. Available fields will be dependent on what you have uploaded, and potential values shown for those fields based on what you have made filterable.

Step 2.

Add search terms/phrases (one at a time). Once you enter a term, select Include or hit enter on your keyboard and that term will appear in the Include column. You can also click Exclude if that is what you wish to accomplish with the results. Additionally, you can always click on the green "chip" now in the Include category, and select Swap to move it to Exclude.

Choosing Include for terms:

If you added multiple terms, you will need to choose how you want them to interact. By default, Any Values is selected, which indicates an OR syntax, therefore, if you type in two (or more) terms, iSearch will interpret it as "testing OR BRCA2", which may not be the results you desire. You may need to select All values to change this syntax to AND, reading as "testing AND BRCA2". This will find your two terms anywhere in the fields(s) you selected. Alternatively, you can type in the phrase "BRCA2 testing", which will search for these terms as a phrase side by side, eliminating the potential issue with the two terms not being directly related, however, not everyone may input these terms in that exact sequence so you need to think about which search criteria will give you the most accurate results.

Pending future release: The last option is At least 2 values, which is helpful when you input a list of keywords/terms/phrases and want results to show if at least 2 of those entries can be found anywhere in the fields selected. This captures a wider net than performing a search on an exact phrase or even a few exact phrases since it can be any combination of two or more terms from your list.

Make sure to hit Save and Continue for each part of the query you are building, i.e. if you want to add another component to your search. Your Search Assist selections will now appear as a "chip" in the search box where they can be modified. Notice that some fields have a list of options that will appear, such as the Condition. Select which available options from that field you wish to use from the list.

When you have completed your query/queries, select Save and Search to execute the search. Note: If you have added multiple "chips" using Search Assist, you will need to decide if you want these queries read as AND or OR. This command is indicated by the boolean operator/buttons on the left side of the search bar:

Find at least two of these terms in the abstracts of the grant records but remove those with surgery in the abstract AND they must have "breast cancer" as the Condition. This will find records that must overlap/contain both criteria. (This is always selected by default.)
Find at least two of these terms in the abstracts of the grant records but remove those with surgery in the abstract OR they must have "breast cancer" as the Condition. This will find records that may or may not overlap based on your criteria