Search Hints

There are a number of options for searching on the LangCanada search pages.

You can type a single word to return all documents containing that word. Uppercase and lowercase are treated the same.

You can also type several words in the search box and select one of the following options:

• all words – to return all documents containing all of the words;
• any word – to return documents any of the words;
• this phrase – to return documents containing the exact phrase;

You may also do a more complex Boolean search by selecting the “boolean” option:

+ A leading plus sign finds documents containing all of the specified words. For example, +peanut +butter finds and return documents that contain both words;

- A leading minus sign indicates that this word must not be present in any of the documents that are returned. For example, -peanut +butter will return all documents that contain butter, but do not contain peanut;

* An asterisk appended to a word will return documents containing that word and any other words that begin with the word preceding the *. For example, alphabet* will return all documents containing the word alphabet and also all documents containing alphabetical, alphabetically, alphabetic and so on.

"" To search for an exact phrase, put it in quotes (Example: "to be or not to be").

A phrase without any of the above mentioned operators is equivalent to an OR search

Fine-tuning your Search

You can fine-tune your search by choosing specific fields. For example you could choose Secondary Level 7-11 (age = 12-17), Listening, Lesson Plans. Just check off the boxes that interest you!

We also encourage you to use the controlled keywords to further refine your search. We have meticulously compiled a two-tier hierarchy of over 100 subject areas, and each educational resource has been assigned at least one of these controlled keywords. So please browse through them.