Search Tips

Type your query into the STePS box and click go . If you prefer not to use the go button, you can press 'tab' after your enquiry, and press 'return'. ('Return' by itself is simply a line feed.)

Try putting in a phrase, maybe even as it occurs to you. For example, you could ask 'what did the spending review do for science and technology in 2004' or 'what is happening about AIDS in Africa'.

Feel free to cut and paste significant pieces of text into the STePS box. The more conceptual grist for the mill, the better it works.

When looking at GovNet articles from the magazine section and daily news stories, we have provided a button that automatically searches for similar documents from across our libraries and the public sector more generally.

When you click go - or tab and return - STePS will present you with its 'A' list of suggested reading, in précis form. Choose the one that strikes you as most relevant or interesting. A new window opens with the full document.

STePS automatically conducts a background search on your chosen document and presents (in the lower part of the new screen) a revised list of suggested reading tailored to the document you're looking at. If you click one of these new suggestions it repeats the action. This is a great way to assist lateral research!

We will soon unveil phase two of STePS; this will enable you to tailor your enquiries, homing in on particular departments, or groups of departments, for example, or even setting up your own search agent which works while you're off-line to deliver new content next time you visit. A host of other features will also be available. Watch this Space.