Help:Search

OpenWetWare Search
OpenWetWare uses Google's search engine to provide full text searching for our Wiki. All private wikis use the built-in MediaWiki search engine since, by design, all private wiki contents are not accessible to Google for indexing.

Availability of New Pages in Search Results
All OpenWetWare content is updated by Google on a very regular basis. All changes are provided for Google on a nightly basis. Google then uploads the changed pages during their visits to OpenWetWare multiple times per week.

One side effect of this is that new content introduced into OWW will not be accessible to searches. The latency between adding content and having it accessible via Google can be as much as 2-3 days, depending on what time of day a change is made or a new page is added.

Using Search Results
Google returns a set of results within OWW pages: you will not have to move back-and-forth between OpenWetWare and Google.com.

Search Scope
Although Google is a global directory, OpenWetWare's search implementation uses features of Google search to limit the pages to those contained within OpenWetWare. One exception to this is the use of Google's 'define' operator specified below. Google will attempt to find a definition for the term specified within OpenWetWare. If there is no definition available in in OpenWetWare, Google will insert a remote page including an appropriate definition into the OpenWetWare search result page.

Search Operators
Since OpenWetWare uses the same search term entry interface Google uses on the main Google search page, many of the same search operators available within the Google search box are available within OpenWetWare.

Below is a list of the available ways to refine your search query. Feel free to try out any of the terms below in the example section for each term. Keep in mind: you can include any combination of these terms in a single query.