There are two forms for searching ERPA:
a short one which includes only two options: the "Quick
update" and the (simple) "Search"
and a longer one which gives you a variety of options ("Advanced
Search").
- Note that these three search options work independently from each
other; therefore, the number of months given in the quick update
does not effect the result of the simple search mode and vice versa.
This option allows you search quickly the authors' and titles'
fields of the ERPA
database only:
Just type in a single word which should be either an
author's name or a part of the title and press the
button.
- It doesn't matter whether you use upper or lower cases: this
search mode is not case-sensitive.
- If you leave the input field empty and press the button,
the result will be an ordered list of all papers currently available
in the ERPA
database.
- For more details about the allowed strings, truncation etc,
please refer to the next section.
If you are not content with the result of your query, consider using
the detailed search mode!
To search the ERPA
database, you only need to click on the
button.
If you do not fill in a single [input
field], the search result will consist of all papers
currently in the database, ordered by date of publication. (The
[search-engine] assumes that each paper
matches with respect to a field if it is left empty.)
If you fill in one or several input fields, the search
result will be more precise.
- To fill in the form, you simply use your mouse or press the TAB
key on your keyboard to put the cursor in the respective field and
start writing.
- Insert the [search string]: It does
not have to be an entire word; any set of letters is possible;
therefore it is not necessary to truncate with * or ?.
However:
- "Truncation": It is
possible to [truncate] the search string:
there are two possibilities:
1. The question mark ("?") is a joker for one letter
(but not for a blank/space);
2. The asterix ("*") is a joker for several letters
(bot not for a blank/space).
Examples: The input "Ma?er" in the author
field might find authors with the following names: "Mayer",
"Maier", "Maler" etc.
If you enter "Ma*r", the above mentioned authors
might be found, but also "Mayr" and "Mayerhofer";
but not: "Mac Erie".
Please note that if using the asterix, the results might be
quite estonishing: The input "f*r" not only results in "Falkner"
but also in "Lewis, Jeffrey" since the ERPA
database cannot distinguish between surnames and first names. In
order to improve your result, you may switch to "case sensitive"
and enter "F*r".
- Consider to truncate a word if you are not
sure about the exact spelling, in particular if the word may contain
special characters (e.g. accents).
Example: If you search for the author "Noël",
you would not find him with "Noel", but with "No?l".
- Apart from the letters on your keyboard, there is a
list of special characters allowed.
You may enter them via their code, e.g. while pressing the ALT-key
of your keyboard and typing 0 2 3 5 will produce an "ë".
By default, the input fields are connected with the logical
expression AND ("must contain" or "must be").
Therefore, if you fill in more than one input field, the search-engine
will find ERPA
papers which match both or – in case of entries in more
than two fields – all requirements.
- Example: If you have entered a name in the author
field and a word in the title field, only ERPA
papers of this particular author whose articles' titles contain the
specified word will be given as the result.
As the default solution, the [search-engine]
does not distinguish between words ([search
strings]) with an upper case at the beginning and those without.
- Example: "European" and "european"
are treated equally.
If you press on the 
button, all entries in the [input fields]
will be deleted and all changes from the default options (e.g. "must
not contain" or "case sensitive" will be reset to the
default solutions and all your entries so far will be deleted.
- [input field]
- The white spaces with frames where you may enter a search string,
i.e. words or numbers to search for.
- [JAVA]
- A special feature of recent browsers which allows e.g. for some
animation of web sites. See the online manual of your browser for
details.
- [search-engine]
- This is the software carrying out your search request and
presenting the results.
- [search string]
- One or several strings (letters) up to full words or groups of
words entered in an [input field].
- [truncation]
- Replacing one or several strings (letters, digits) of a search
string (word, figure) by a "joker", i.e. a sign (here: *
or ?) which will be interpreted by the search-engine as any
(allowed) string.
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button in the respective line of the search form.