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SEC.gov Search Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)This FAQ will help you use SEC.gov Search effectively. We will continue to enhance this service on the basis of user feedback. Please email your comments and suggestions for improvement to webmaster@sec.gov. Click here to go back to the search engine.
The SEC.gov Search will allow you to search the full text of SEC documents posted on www.sec.gov. The SEC.gov Search uses a conceptual search engine to search and retrieve the information you need. Type the terms for which you are searching in the "Search Terms" box and hit Enter or click the "Search" button. When you receive your search results, click on the title of any document to view the full document. Yes, the SEC.gov Search provides an Advanced Search feature. To use this feature, click the "Advanced Search" link that appears to the right of the "Search Terms" box. Select the appropriate "Search terms" box and enter your term(s). You may place a check mark next to any website section(s) you would like to search. To select all sections, check the "Select/Deselect All" box. To execute your search, click the "Search" button. When you receive your search results, click on the title of any document to view the full document. Yes. Click the "Advanced Search" link. You may specify the number of search results (5, 10, 15, 25, 50) displayed on each page by using the "Results Per Page" pull-down menu and making your selection from the list. The search results are broken down by section of the SEC website. The number of results for your search term appears in parentheses next to the section. If you would like to narrow your search to a specific section, click on the title of the section, and your results will be only pulled from that section. You can search using "natural language" or Boolean search operators. Natural language searching allows you to search for a concept by using the language that you would use to express that concept to another person. Example: fluctuations in interest rates Enter the exact phrase in quotation marks. Example: "management discussion and analysis" The use of quotation marks will find documents containing the exact phrase "management discussion and analysis." The results set will not be limited only to that phrase, however, and may also include conceptually related phrases such as "managerial discussion & analysis." You can also use the advanced search options and type in your phrase in the box that follows "This exact phrase:". Yes. Capitalizing the proper name will cause the search engine to increase the relevance ranking of the documents containing the name and these documents will appear closer to the top of your search results list. Example: Joseph Kennedy Notes: Finding your search terms within the document: Boolean searching allows you to narrow, broaden, or limit a search by connecting search terms with Boolean operators such as AND, OR, and NOT. All Boolean operators must be typed in uppercase letters. You can also use the features in the Advanced Search to include and exclude certain search terms in your results. Example: AND, OR, NOT The Boolean operator AND narrows your search by telling the search engine that all terms connected by the AND operator must be contained in a document (but not necessarily in the same sentence or paragraph). These terms can appear in any order in the document. Example: software AND hardware The Boolean operator OR broadens your search by locating a document containing any of the terms connected by the OR operator. Example: trucks OR cars The Boolean operator NOT limits your search by locating documents that contain one term but not another term. Example: petroleum NOT gasoline This search will locate documents that contain the term "petroleum" but not the term "gasoline." You can use operator NEARn to locate documents that contain the terms you selected within "n" words, or fewer, of one another (where n is the number of words). Example: market NEAR1 timing The asterisk (*) is a wildcard symbol that searches for the root of a word followed by one or more characters. Example: communicat* This search will locate documents that contain terms such as communicate, communicates, communicated, communication, communications, and communicating. We welcome your feedback regarding the SEC.gov Search. Please send us your ideas and suggestions at webmaster@sec.gov. Send an e-mail to the webmaster@sec.gov mailbox, telling us what you're trying to find and how you've been searching for it
http://www.sec.gov/search/searchhelp.htm
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