This search returns only pages that include all of your search terms; however, the words may be anywhere on the page and can appear in any order. To restrict a search further, just include more terms in this box, or use this box in combination with the other search option boxes. (This search is essentially the same as the basic search box on the top bar. However, when used in combination with the other options below, its power and accuracy can be magnified.)

Use this box to search for an exact phrase if the basic, or "all these words," search returns too many results. This search will return only entries that contain your search phrase exactly as you entered it. This search is particularly useful for terms in which one of the words is a single letter or is very common. For example, if you are looking for the meaning of the phrase American Dream, type that term into the "exact phrase" search box. Your results will be entries that mention just the term American Dream, rather than both the words American and Dream. The phrase search in the advanced search has the same effect as putting quotation marks around a phrase in the basic search box on the home page and on the top menu.

Sometimes you may want to do a search on two different words or phrases that do not appear together, such as two different people or two different themes. For example, you may be researching the Trojan War, and so want to find any entries that mention either Achilles or Athena. In that case, enter both search terms in this box. You may also use this search box to locate an entry if you are unsure of the exact words to use. For example, if you are unsure whether the correct phrase is Doubting Thomas or Doubting Peter, you could type Thomas Peter into the "any of the words" search box, and Doubting into the "none of these words" box.

Sometimes you may want to limit results by excluding certain words. For instance, to retrieve entries mentioning Abraham but not Abraham Lincoln, you might type Lincoln into this search box and Abraham into the "all these words" box.

Sometimes you may want to find results for only certain types of entries. Check the boxes next to the types of entries you would like to search. For example, if you want to find only Allusions, check the "Allusions" box and leave the other boxes unchecked.

Use the radio buttons to specify what part of the database to search. Full-text searches apply to the text of an entry as well as to the title and header material. The title search applies only to the title. The title search will almost always return a smaller result than the full-text search, so it is probably more helpful for frequently mentioned terms. The full-text search will help locate all the information on less well-known terms.

Searches from the basic search box on the home page or from the box on the top menu return entries that include all of your search terms anywhere on the page. There is no need to include and between terms. Your search terms will be highlighted in yellow in the text.

Searches are not case sensitive. For example, it does not matter if you enter Danse Macabre or danse macabre; both will return the same results.

Many names and terms, especially those from non-English languages, contain special symbols to clarify their pronunciation. To search for these words, simply type the word without the accent marks. For example, to search for cliché, simply type cliche in the search box.

To search for an exact phrase, enclose the phrase in quotation marks. Without quotation marks, the search will return all entries that have all the words in your search, regardless of their location on the page or relation to one another. With quotation marks, the search will return only entries that contain your search phrase exactly as you entered it.

Some words or phrases can apply to a variety of topics or people. Use the not search in order to reduce the number of unwanted topics in the search results. For instance, if you want to search for entries on compounds but only want entries on compound words and not compound sentences, enter compound not sentences or compound –sentence into the search box. Include more terms to limit the results further. As you can see from the two examples, you may use either the word not or the minus sign to exclude a word from the search; however, the minus sign must be attached to the front of the word to be excluded, while not must be surrounded by spaces. Both approaches have the effect of excluding all entries that contain the word.

Sometimes you may want to search on two different topics that do not appear together, such as two different people or two different phrases. In that case, enter both search terms, or sets of terms, separated by the word or. For instance, the search "Paul Bunyan" or "Pecos Bill" will return any entry that deals with either folk hero, including entries that mention one but not the other.