Format Tips for Better Searches

Updated: September 2007

This page provides information to help you use the Basic and Advanced Search forms more effectively.

Act names

You can search by the names of Acts of Congress to find specific Public Laws in Public Law text. Simply enter the name of the Act -- or any portion of its name -- into the Words search box. If you're uncertain of the exact name of the Act in question, click on the Browse List of Act Names link on the Advanced Search Page.

For related searching tips, please see: Citations to laws, Public Law numbers, Statutes (Stat. cites), U.S. Code citations

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Amendment numbers

Amendments may be numbered from 1-9999. In the Senate, amendments are numbered sequentially in each Congress, beginning with "1." In the House, amendment numbers are unique for each bill.

Multiple amendment numbers can be separated by a space or a comma, with or without a space following each comma. When you fill in your search form, include a bill number, date introduced or any words or phrases to help you find the correct amendment more quickly.

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Bill numbers

Multiple bill numbers can be separated by a space or a comma, with or without a space following the comma.

Enter an "HR" for House or an "S" for Senate before each bill number. DO NOT use periods or spaces after the HR or S or before the number.

Enter "HJRES" or "SJRES" for joint resolutions, "HCONRES" or "SCONRES" for concurrent resolutions, and "HRES" or "SRES" for simple resolutions. Do not use periods or spaces after the prefix. These searches are somewhat case sensitive, so ensure that all capital or all lower-cased letters are used. A mixed-case search—e.g., HConRes212—will fail to find any matches.

Similar rules apply when searching for draft bills. For example, to find the Fiscal 2004 Agriculture Appropriations bill, search for "dhapps0401" or "DHAPPS0401",.

Similar rules apply when searching for treaties. For example, to find Treaty Document 108-1, search for "td108-1" or "TD108-1".

NOTE: Bill Numbers are identified in the quick search box and in word searches. If you search for HR 6 in the word box instead of the bill number box, the outcome will be the same.

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Chambers

On CQ.com search forms, both House and Senate are selected by default. This means that if you do not specifically narrow your search to one chamber, you will get results from both chambers.

To search in only one chamber, click in the box next to the chamber you want to search exclusively.

Exception -- Custom Vote Searches and Lists: Custom Vote searches and lists can contain votes from only one chamber, so on this form, you must specify either House or Senate.

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Citations to Laws

CQ.com search forms give you multiple ways to search for information about laws. These include searching by Public Law number in BillTrack and Public Law Text and by U.S. Code citations in US Code. You can also search by Statute citation and by Act names in Public Law text.

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Committee report numbers

Enter the complete committee report number, including the Congress number and hyphen, beginning with an "S" for Senate or an "H" for House or Conference. Enter either "S" or "H," followed by the Congress, then the report number (e.g., S 107-13, H 107-21).

Multiple report numbers MUST be separated by a comma.

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Connectors

Connectors help you create more precise searches. A connector is a word that the search engine understands as a command. Using connectors, you can tell the search engine what you want to find in very specific terms. Use connectors when completeness and relevance in an entire search results set is important.

CQ.com lets you choose whether to write your own connectors or use options below the word box to tell the system what connectors to use:

Basic Boolean connectors – AND OR – are supported by radio buttons but can also be typed into a search string. A comma is synonymous with OR when not within a phrase.

Basic Boolean NOT is supported by an exclusion box but can also be typed into a search string as NOT or by using the minus sign (-).

Use the following chart as a guide to choosing your connectors when you are in "connector" mode or quick search and are not using the radio buttons.. The sample results come from searches in the CQ Weekly archives.

Enter... To receive documents that contain...
"juvenile delinquent" this phrase exactly as you entered it
juvenile delinquent both words, together or apart, in any order
NOTE: juvenile and delinquent is equivalent to juvenile delinquent and returns the same results
juvenile or delinquent either word, but not necessarily both
NOTE: juvenile, delinquent is equivalent to juvenile or delinquent and returns the same results
juvenile not delinquent the first but not the second word
juvenile <near> delinquent both words, within about 600 words of each other, in any order
juvenile <near/5> delinquent both words within 5 (or any number you specify) words of each other, in any order
juvenile <phrase> (criminal or delinquent) either of the words in parentheses follows the other word, as a phrase
juvenile and (criminal or delinquent) either of the words in parentheses, and also the other word. The parentheses take precedence over the "and" connector
juvenile and criminal or delinquent both the word juvenile and the word criminal, or the word delinquent. The "and" connector takes precedence over the "or" connector

Precedence defines the order in which the elements of a "words or phrases" search are evaluated. On CQ.com, the order of precedence is: parentheses ( ), <phrase>, <near>, and, or, not.

NOTE: Use the angle brackets < > when using the <near> or <phrase> connector. If you forget the angle brackets, your search will look for items with the words "near" or "phrase."

Since words that have no connector between them are assumed to be adjacent, the <phrase> connector is only required for complex searches -- particularly searches that include parentheses.

See parentheses, question marks, quotation marks (under phrase identifiers) and wildcards for related format tip information.

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Dates

CQ.com keeps track of a number of different document dates. They include: Publication Date, Action Date, Date Bill Introduced, Event Date and Date Added to CQ.com. For all search forms, the date format is always the same: mm/dd/yy.

Date ranges in CQ.com are inclusive, so searches Before, Between or Since 01/01/99 all include January 1.

Dates can be entered as a date range (Since, Before, Between), a specific date (On) or, on some search forms, as a specific Congress (Current Congress).

"Since" is the default date range for most search forms. If you do not define a date or date range for your search, your search will be based on the other search criteria you provide.

For Example -- Action Date: "Between 01/25/99 and 03/25/99"

To select a date range, click on the drop-down list.

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Did You Mean

A collection of common typos and misspellings and their corrections gives you an opportunity to rerun your search with the suggested corrections. This collection is editorially identified based on years of experience with searches on CQ.com.

The table below contains examples of the values and their corrections.

Typo/Misspelling "Did You Mean" Correction
acqusition acquisition
agrculture agriculture
amabassador ambassador
ambasador ambassador
ambassdor ambassador
amedment amendment
amendement amendment
amoritization amortization
authroization authorization
balitmore baltimore
bankrupcty bankruptcy
benficiary beneficiary
botswanna botswana
buisness business
buisnesses businesses
busines business
chattannoga chattanooga
cheny cheney
cincinati cincinnati
cincinatti cincinnati
cofirmation confirmation
comission commission
commrece commerce
demcrat democrat
elgibility eligibility
emmissions emissions
encruption encryption
encrypton encryption
enforcment enforcement
envirnmental environmental
enviroment environment
heathcare healthcare
hosue house
huose house
intitute institute
intitution institution
overisght oversight
seante senate
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Drop-down menus

Drop-down menus display multiple options and allow you to choose just one. Click on the down arrow at the right side of the menu to reveal all options. Click just once on the option you want to search. The selected option will display at the top of the menu, highlighted. To change options, click on the down arrow to reveal all the options and single-click on another. Remember, you can choose only one.

NOTE: For the search forms of CQ BillTrack, CQ BillAnalysis, CRS Bill Digest and Bill Text, there is a drop-down menu to select Stage in Legislative Process. If you choose a stage, your search results will include the stage you just selected, plus any stage equal to or greater than that stage. In other words, your results will include measures that have reached or exceeded the stage of the legislative process selected.

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Exclusion Box

The Exclusion box (labeled "Exclude these words") that is included with standard word search eliminates documents that contain any of the words typed in the box. Use this option with care, since you may inadvertently omit important documents.

For example, searching the word aircraft and excluding the word carrier will eliminate any documents that contain the word carrier, even if the usage is not tied to the word aircraft.

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Issuing agencies

Use this field to look for items in the Federal Register issued by specific agencies. The same search rules apply as in the standard word search.

Enter all or any part of the agency name. Consult the Agency List for exact spellings. This is a comprehensive list of agencies that have issued items in the Federal Register over the past several years. To get an exact match on the agency name, identify it as a phrase by either enclosing it in double quotes or selecting the exact phrase radio button.

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Minus Sign

A minus sign preceding a word is the equivalent of NOT, or of typing the word in the exclusion box. The search: aircraft -carrier is the same as the search aircraft NOT carrier, and the same as searching on the word aircraft and excluding the word carrier. CQ.com supports multiple ways of constructing your search so that you can do whatever feels most natural to you.

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Other witness(es)

Use this search option to look for written testimony submitted at a committee hearing by participants who are NOT members of Congress.

Search for one or more witnesses, titles or organizations at a time. Enter any part of the name, title, acronym, first name or last name. Spelling MUST exactly match the wording as it appears in the submitted testimony.

If you are not sure if a witness is referred to by their given first name or a nickname in their testimony submission, it may be better to just search by last name. Use other fields to further refine your search.

Wildcards (*) are accepted in this field.

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Page numbers

Page numbers are available for searching several sources, including Congressional Record, CQ Weekly and the Federal Register. The format required varies depending on which publication you are searching. (See the chart below for details.)

Search FormSpecific Page TypeFormatExample
CQ Weekly or Federal Register pppp20, 199, 2000
Congressional RecordSenateSpppppS234, S5690, S65691
Congressional RecordHouseHpppppH456, H6902
Congressional RecordExtensions of RemarksEpppppE15624
Congressional RecordDaily DigestDpppppD2567, D2227
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Parentheses

Parentheses are used for clarification when searching for word combinations.

Important: Parenthetical expressions used with other search words must be joined by a search connector -- and, or, not, <near>, <near/#> or <phrase>.

Precedence defines the order in which the elements of a "words or phrases" search are evaluated. On CQ.com On Congress, the order of precedence is: parentheses ( ), <phrase>, <near>, and, or, not.

Words or phrase entered Items retrieved will contain...
utility or electricity and deregulation either the word utility OR the words electricity and deregulation
(utility or electricity) and deregulation either utility and deregulation, OR electricity and deregulation
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Party

In searching CQ Member Profiles, the Democrat, Republican and Independent checkboxes are automatically selected as the default on the Advanced Search form. To restrict your search to one or two parties, select the checkbox of the party or parties you want to search. To de-select, click on a checkbox and the check mark will disappear.

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Phrase Identifiers

Select the "exact phrase" radio button to search for the words you entered in exactly the order you entered them. If you want to build your own search string instead, surround your words in quotation marks when you want to search for an exact phrase. The <phrase> connector between two words accomplishes the same thing but allows for more advanced and nuanced meanings. <phrase> works with precedent and other connectors so that (safety, seat)<phrase>belt is the equivalent of "safety belt" OR "seat belt".

Searching as a phrase allows you to search on words that would otherwise be interpreted as connectors or stop words, as in "not for profit" "savings and loan", "the way of the world" or "to be or not to be".

Certain punctuation causes the search engine to treat a search word as a phrase, rather than as separate words.

Punctuation Connector Example
apostrophe (')Smith’s finds Smith’s NOT Smith said or Smith once served on the U.S.S... or Smith on its own
hyphen (-)child-care finds child-care and child care and childcare NOT I once had a child but had to put it in care
forward and backward slashes (/ and \)X/O finds X/O and X O NOT X marks the spot but O, what a lonely spot
Period(.)U.S.A. finds U.S.A, USA, and not U.S.S. Albatross
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Plus Sign

Use a plus sign (+) before a word when you want to search for exactly that word the way you are entering it. The plus sign:

For example:

The plus sign works independent of whether a search is identified as a phrase or not.

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Public Law numbers

Public Law numbers can be used to search relevant information in CQ BillTrack and in Public Law Text. This feature enables you to easily find any legislative measures that have become law and are identified as Public Laws or Statutes at Large.

When entering Public Law numbers, you must include the Congress number and the law number (e.g., 106-110 or 107-23). If you are searching a past Congress, remember to select the right Congress at the top of the search form. If the Congress numbers do not match, you will not retrieve any documents.

Note: When searching by PL number in CQ BillTrack, you should enter only the Congress number and Law number, e.g. 109-12. Do not enter the abbreviation "PL" or your search will result in a listing of all Public Laws for the specified Congress. When searching by Public Law number in Public Law Text you must enter the abbreviation "PL".

In CQ BillTrack, searching by law number also searches for Private Laws, which are private bills that have been passed by both chambers and have become law. These are numbered in the same manner as Public Laws. Thus, when you enter 107-1 into the Public Law field, you may receive two records, one for a Public Law and another for a Private Law. The easiest way to differentiate these is to look at the official bill title; Private Laws and private bills usually begin with "a private bill for the relief of...."

In Public Law Text, how do you find older citations using the Public Law number search box? Public Law numbers do not exist for 19th century laws. The most common way to find one of these laws is by statutes at large citation. If you do not have that citation, you can find a 1789-1904 law, or a law when they only have a chapter or public resolution citation, by browsing. However, it is possible to search for them using the Public Law Number search box:

NOTE: Without the session to provide uniqueness, these searches will not work and the user will get an error message: This citation does not sufficiently identify a single public la>

For related searching tips, please see: Act names, Citations to laws, Statutes (Stat. cites), U.S. Code citations

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Question marks

Question marks serve a purpose similar to that of wildcards ( * ). Wildcards allow you to search for one or more missing characters by using an asterisk ( * ). Question marks allow you to search for a specific number of missing characters. (See chart.)

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Quotation Marks

See Phrase Identifiers.

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Radio Buttons

There are four radio buttons that accompany a Word Search.

Radio Button Description
All of these words Default selection and finds documents that contain all the words typed in. The equivalent of typing AND between each pair of word.
Any of these words Finds documents that contain any of the words typed in. It is the equivalent of typing OR between each pair of words.
Exact phrase Finds the exact phrase typed in the exact order. It is the equivalent of putting the search in double quotes.
Use connectors Conducts the search exactly as it is typed in. This is the selection for complex searches with connectors such as , or punctuation such as parentheses and quotes.
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Selection boxes

Selection boxes allow you to choose from a variety of pre-set options. Use the scroll bar at the side of the selection box to view all of the selections. Selection boxes are used for selecting Categories, Committees, Cosponsors, Events, Members, Members Voting, Members Submitting Statements, Members offering amendments or motions on which a vote was taken, Sponsors, Subcommittees, Subjects, Story Types and Transcript Types (Newsmaker Transcripts only).

Regardless of the content, the method for selecting or de-selecting single or multiple items in a selection box is the same.

To select a single item: Click on the item you want to search. It should appear highlighted. This means it is selected for your search.

To select adjacent multiple items: Click on the first item you want to search. Hold down the "Shift" key and click on the last item in the group you want to search. Both items, plus all the items between, will appear highlighted. The block of highlighted items is selected for your search.

To select non-adjacent items: Hold down the "Control" key and click on the items you want to search. All highlighted items are selected for your search.

To de-select single and multiple items:

Mac users: Instead of the "Control" key, hold down the "Option" key as you select items that are not adjacent to each other. Also hold down the "Option" key before clicking on items you want to de-select.

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Sort by

On the Advanced Search form, you can determine the order in which hits will be returned by using the Sort By function. You can choose to sort by the bill number, relevancy, the date of introduction or more, depending on which data sources you are searching. Select the desired criteria from the drop-down menu. Then, specify ascending or descending order.

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Statutes (Stat. cites)

You can search for a law using its statute citation (Stat.Cite) -- the volume and page number on which the law is printed in the U.S. Statutes At Large. For example, searching for 112 Stat. 3596 will retrieve PL 105-393, the Economic Development Administration and Appalachian Regional Development Reform Act of 1998.

For related searching tips, please see: Act names, Citations to laws, Public Law numbers, U.S. Code citations

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Stop Words

Stop words are common words that are excluded from searches to prevent irrelevant results from being returned. CQ staff will modify the list of stop words on CQ.com as examples emerge. Some examples of stop words are:

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U.S. Code cites

Searches by U.S. Code citations enable you to quickly find the text of current federal laws. Depending on whether you want a broad search or a relatively narrow one, citations can include the following:

Multiple citations must be separated by commas.

For related searching tips, please see: Act names, Citations to laws, Public Law numbers, Statutes (Stat. cites)

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Vote numbers

Search for a vote number or multiple vote numbers, separated by a space or a comma. Votes are numbered sequentially each session, in each chamber. If you are searching for votes in a particular chamber, you can limit your search to that chamber. See Chambers for more information.

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Wildcards — Asterisks and Question Marks

Use the asterisk(*) when you want to retrieve all words having the characters you enter followed by any other characters. Question marks (?) have a similar function, but permit retrieval of documents with only a specified number of characters – one character per question mark. Stemming is turned off by the presence of wildcards. These characters work independent of whether a search is within a phrase or not.

Example Definition Your search will retrieve
123? One ? allows ONE character to append 1231, 1232, 1233, 123a and anything with 123 as the first three of four characters
tax?? Two ??s allows TWO characters to append taxes, taxed, taxis and any other words having tax as the first three letters plus two more letters
tax* * allows ANY number of characters to append tax, taxidermy, taxation, taxing, taxes, taxi, taxicabs and anything with tax as the first three letters
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Words or phrases

Enter words or phrases to restrict your search to items that contain those words or text expressions. Default behavior is to assume that you want all the words, in any order.

Use logical connectors -- AND, OR, NOT, <near>, <near/#>, <phrase> or parentheses -- to fine tune your search. Except in Quick Search, Radio buttons are provided as an alternative to using explicit connectors. Quick search will assume you want documents that contain all of the words you entered.

The techniques discussed above can also be used to search by Word in Bill Title in CQ BillTrack and in Word in Act Name in Public Law Text.

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ZIP Codes

In CQ Member Profiles, search for a five-digit ZIP code, or multiple ZIP codes separated by commas. You may use the wildcard (*) to retrieve every ZIP code beginning with the same first digits, or a question mark to represent one or more unspecified digits.

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