Search Now Articles from 1989-Present
About the Archives Introduction
Fees and Pricing
Terms & Conditions
PostTracker Track Topics of Interest
About This Service
Help Search Tips
Frequently Asked Questions
Contact Customer Service
Keep in mind some natural language search basics
Our search engine understands rules of the English language. When you craft a search, you can enter keyword(s) (e.g. education or dogs veterinarians) a question (e.g. Where was Jimmy Buffett born?), or a phrase (e.g. student briefing on space stations). You may succeed with your first try, but some searches may find nothing, other searches may find lots of articles that don't have what you seek. When at first you don't succeed, there are ways to tune your search that may help you, discussed on this page.
For the example question above, the search engine looks for articles with words and phrases that match or nearly match Jimmy, Buffett, and born. Jimmy and Buffett are each recognized as proper nouns, but not searched for as Jimmy Buffett unless you use quotes to specify "Jimmy Buffett". As an alternative, you could just type: Jimmy Buffett born. For this example, the search engine returns the same quality results as if you entered the text as a question, but for many keyword searches this would not hold. Generally, use meaningful expressions (a question, phrase, clause, or sentence). Word order provides clues about your intended meaning. The search engine can identify the role (sense, part of speech, etc.) that each word plays in an expression. It can thus tell whether you want a word such as "model" to be used as a noun, an adjective, or a verb. For this reason, common words (e.g. the, there, because, in, out, to) can be useful when you craft a search expression.
Keep questions concise
You could ask: Where in Mississippi was Jimmy Buffett born? The search engine does not give the best results because it must search for articles that refer to Mississippi as well as Jimmy Buffett. Consider rewording the question to: Where was Jimmy Buffett born?
Narrow or enhance your search using date ranges
Besides the search expression you enter, the more information you can provide for dates you are interested in, the more precise your search can be made. By selecting one of the date range options offered, you can limit your search results.
Sorted by: options
The default option for returning results is the Date option. Results are returned in reverse chronological order, so the newest stories are on top. The Relevancy option uses a formula that considers, among other things, the number of words in the articles that were also in your search statement, how near they are to the beginning of the article, and other, similar words found in the article. The most relevant articles are near the top of the list.
Use quoting to clarify the intent of your search
Sometimes, you may want to find a certain word only when it is adjacent to another word (or words). You can look up an exact phrase or idea by enclosing it in quotation marks. For example, you could ask: Who said, "Four score and seven years ago?" The search engine looks for articles that contain the exact words Four score and seven years ago, in that exact order. An article containing Four score and 7 years ago is not included because 7 is not an exact match for the word seven. You can also use quotes to group the parts of a proper noun as a single entity; for example, "Jimmy Buffett" or "Palm Beach County Commission." In these examples, putting the phrases in quotes brings back only those stories where the words appear as phrases.
Looking for words near each other
Boolean search tips: In order to use these tips you must change the Search using option from Natural language to Boolean
When you use words inside of quotes you're searching for an exact match. If you search for "Jane Smith" and she's always referred to as Jane B. Smith, you won't find any of those articles. You can search for words near each other this way: Type in the two words followed by adj followed by a number indicating how many words may be between the words you are looking for like this: Jane Smith adj 3. This search looks for Jane within 3 words of Smith. Suppose you're looking for articles about the Southern Boulevard exit and you're not sure whether street will be abbreviated or spelled out. Southern exit adj 2 will find any articles where the word Southern appears within two words of exit. You can use any number following adj. If you were looking for articles about traffic around malls, you could try traffic malls adj 10.
When you use adj, the words must appear in the order you typed them. Sometimes you may not be sure of the order in which words may appear. You want them near each other, but it doesn't matter which comes first. Use within for these searches. For example, accidents intersections within 5 finds articles where these two words appear within five words of each other, but it doesn't matter which word comes first.
Searching for an author or title only
If you are looking for articles by a particular author, enter the author's name in the author box and leave the top search box blank. Or if you want to read articles by a particular author on a particular subject, include words on the subject in the top search box.
If you know the title of the article that you are looking for, you also may search only by that title.
Check the spelling and meaning of your search words
Be careful with spelling, especially with names, technical terms, and homophones (e.g. bear and bare). Also, you may want to check the meaning of your search words. If a word has two very different meanings, you may get unexpected results. Consider the meaning of the words you choose: you might try substituting different word(s) to clarify your intent.
Why are the word count and article size listed on the results page?
The word count and article size are listed on the results page and can help you in purchasing the right article. By reviewing the word count and article size, you can determine if the article is the length of a caption, a feature, or somewhere between. The article size is rounded to the nearest 1K (1024 characters). The word count is an estimate based on the actual character count.
The results list
The maximum number of headlines that The Final Edition search engine will return on any search is 150. The results list will include either up to the 150 most relevant or most recent depending on the "Sorted by:" option. In many cases this will not be all the stories on a particular subject. You may wish to run your search again using more or different words to make sure you have the best results. If you really need to see every single story on a topic, you will probably have to run the search more than once, changing the date restrictions each time. You can choose to display your results in groups ranging from 10 to 150.
Search for a name or phrase Boolean only: In the above searches the first word must precede the second word which must precede the third, etc. Search for words near each other (boolean only) In the above searches the words or phrases can appear in any order
Search a specific author for stories on a person or subject
Natural language or boolean:
"Palm Beach County Commission"
Jimmy Buffett adj 2
concerts "SunFest" adj 2
Okeechobee fishing within 5
parks homeless within 10
"miami dolphins" dan marino within 10
marlins dolphins stadium player within 25
Search for a name or phrase
In the above searches the first word must precede the second word which must precede the third, etc.
Search for words near each other (boolean only)
In the above searches the words or phrases can appear in any order
Search a specific author for stories on a person or subject
Important User Notice. Please Read