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HELP — HOW TO USE THIS DATABASE

• Search Tips
• Search Results
• Advanced Search and News Services Cross-Search
• Back to Search Results
• Navigation Methods
• Emailing Articles
• Printing Articles
• Resizing Article Text
• Article Citations
• Record URL
• Save to Folder

Issues & Controversies

Search Tips

You can search the full-text or titles only, using keywords or a specific phrase, and specifying date ranges for results, from any page. Capitalization does not matter. Results are returned sorted by relevance (the default), or by date.

Boolean Operators

Boolean operators—AND, OR, NOT—can be added to search terms to refine results. If no operator is added, the AND operator is used automatically.

1. Enter a search term. Examples:
1. safety and school
2. safety or school
3. safety not school
2. Results include:
1. all articles with all of the search terms, safety as well as school
2. all articles with either of the search terms, safety or school or both
3. only articles without the excluded search term, articles with safety that do not include school

Phrase Search

Use double quotation marks to define an exact phrase or phrases.

1. Examples:
1. "white house"
2. "white house" and taliban
3. "white house" and "bill clinton"
2. Results include:
1. articles with white house together as a phrase but not a story with, for example, the phrases "white supremacist" and "house majority"
2. articles with white house as a phrase that also contain taliban
3. articles with white house as a phrase that also contain bill clinton as a phrase

Note: The Boolean operators OR and NOT can also be used in a Phrase Search. AND is the default.

Optional Date Range

Basic and Advanced Search screens offer optional date-range searching. Users can enter a year and, if desired, specific month and day in the From: and To: pull-down menus. Only a From: year is needed to execute search; the other empty pulldowns will be filled in automatically.

Search Results

Basic Search results display in tabbed categories for easy organization:

• Featured Articles and sidebars, which you can filter by type, and sort by date or alphabetically by title
• Editorial Cartoons which you can sort alphabetically by title
• By The Numbers: statistical snapshots of key issues, which you can sort by date or alphabetically by title
• Reference Shelf: content from the Almanac and the Encyclopedia which you can filter and sort by type, and sort alphabetically by title

Advanced Search and News Services Cross-Search

Advanced Search allows access to additional search parameters:

• Cross-searching other authorized Facts On File News Services databases
• Search History: repeat or vary a recent search

News Services Cross-Search

Users of more than one News Services database can also cross-search from the News Services Cross-Search page, accessible via a link from the Available Databases page. Users can search any combination of authorized News Services databases (by selecting or deselecting the check-boxes, entering a search query and clicking GO). The results will appear under separate tabs for each database, plus an All Results tab. The Reference Shelf tab displays Almanac and Encyclopedia results. Clicking on any result allows users to view content within the appropriate product interface, which opens in a new window.

Back to Search Results

• Users simply click the "Back to Search Results" links that appear in searched articles and the stories they link to. "Back to Search Results" links do not appear in any menus or popup windows that a search result links to.
• Feature is available for Basic and Advanced Search results, and for Almanac and Encyclopedia home page searches. It is not available for News Services Cross-Search results.

Navigation Methods

You can browse via two different indexes available in the left-hand navigation area of the Issues & Controversies home page:

• Subject Index
• Issues: Pro and Con, arguments at a glance on the hottest issues we face today, with links to related articles

On the home page, you can browse our weekly featured story area, and link to a complete list of covered issues. The home page also highlights:

• Curriculum Tools for Students and Educators
• Special Features that deepen understanding of key issues
• Need a Research Topic? listings, with links to related articles

Emailing Articles

While on an article page, click on the envelope icon located on the upper right portion of your screen. A new window will open. In the "To Address" box, enter the email address where you want to send the article. If you want to send to more than one address, use a semicolon (;) to separate addresses. If you would like to include a message with the article, type it into the message box provided. Press Send.

Note: Emailed versions of articles include citation information. They do not include images. You may want to add the email address: Requests@factsonfile.com to your "safe sender" list to ensure that the article reaches your inbox.

Printing Articles

While on an article or menu page, simply select the printer icon on the upper right-hand side of the screen. A printer-friendly version of the article will appear. Use your browser's Print function to print the article with its corresponding citation.

Resizing Article Text

Users can increase or decrease the font size of article text to customize for their viewing needs. On an article page, click the [-] or [+] links found in the upper right portion of any article screen; feature is not available on menu pages.

Article Citations

We automatically generate some citation information and provide full instructions on how to cite Facts On File News Services content using Modern Language Association (MLA), in compliance with the new 7th edition of the MLA's Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, and American Psychological Association (APA) citation styles.

Citation information appears at the bottom of the article. It is also included in the printable version and the email version of all articles.

Record URL

What is a record URL?

News Services online products have a "Record URL" feature noted at the bottom of every article page and menu page. Customers can utilize these Record URLs as persistent links; bringing authorized users into specific content within any of the databases.

Save to Folder

Issues & Controversies offers 'Save to Folder' tools, allowing users to save content to a personalized folder for later retrieval within a session or during a later database visit.

Create a personalized folder by clicking the 'Folder Sign-In' link found in the upper right-hand corner of content pages, then entering an email address and creating a password with at least three characters. Multiple users within a single customer account can create unique folder sign-ins for any authorized News Services databases. The same sign-in name and password can be used for each News Services database, however users can only retrieve saved items from the database they are currently visiting. Users can also save items to a 'Guest' folder without signing in to a personalized folder, but the folder will be emptied automatically when the browser window is closed.

Save items to a folder by clicking on the folder icon found in the upper right-hand corner of savable content pages. A plus sign appears on the folder when the item has been saved. Searchable content can be saved to a folder. In addition, many Curriculum Tools items can be saved to a folder.

Access saved items, by clicking the 'Saved Items' link, also found in the upper right-hand corner of content pages. If you are signed in to a folder, a pop-up window will appear with links to content from Issues & Controversies saved during the current and previous sessions. If you are not signed in, only items saved during the current session will be displayed. Clicking a link takes you directly to the saved item and closes the pop-up window. To return to the pop-up window, click the 'Saved Items' link again.