Full Text Search

The fastest, simplest way to search for articles is by typing words into the Search For box at the top of the page. Then click the Search button, and you'll get a list of all articles containing those words. (Very common words such "the" and "of" are ignored.) The most relevant articles will be at the top of the list, but you can re-order the list by headline, author, date published, or department: Just click the heading at the top of the column you want to sort by.

You can narrow your search by specifying any combination of topics, departments, authors, and publication date. To do this, click Narrow Your Search and follow the directions below. You can also do Boolean searches and use wildcard characters.

Topic Search

The Topics box lists some of the subjects we cover most frequently in Slate. If you want to see articles on the stock market, for instance, click Economics, select Stock Market, and then click Search. If you choose more than one topic, you'll get articles from each one.

If you select a topic and also type words into the Search For box, the search engine will return only articles that are about that topic and that contain those words. If you're having trouble finding the story you're looking for, try deselecting the topics by clicking the Clear button on the right side of the page.

Department Search

You can limit your search to one or more departments by selecting them from the Departments list. If you type a word in the Search For box and select a department, the search engine will look for articles in that department that contain that word. (Try typing Nike into the search field and choose Ad Report Card from the Departments list. You should see at least three articles—these are all the Ad Report Card columns that mention Nike.)

If you choose a department but don't type in a search term or otherwise narrow your search, you'll get a list of every story in that department.

Author Search

You can limit the search to articles by one or more authors by selecting them from the Authors list. If you pick an author and no other criteria (such as topics or departments), you'll get a list of everything by that writer.

Publication Date

You can narrow your search by looking only for articles published in the past week, month, or year. You can also specify a range of dates. If you leave All Dates checked, your search results will, naturally, cover all dates.

Any or all of these categories can be combined to tailor your search. You could look for all articles about ballet that ran in the Readme department, were written by Michael Kinsley, were published last November, and contain the word "slap-happy." (We're pretty sure you wouldn't find any, though.)

Searching the Fray

To search the Fray, our reader forum, use the box located at the bottom of any Fray page, such as this one.

Copy Your Search Result

This feature is a handy way to save your search results. Once you've run the search that you want to save, click the Copy Your Search Result link. Then paste the URL wherever you want to save it: in an e-mail, in a document, etc. The next time you want to perform the same search, just click the URL again. (The search is performed anew each time you follow the link. For example, suppose you save a search for an author's name on Monday. If you follow the link again on Friday, the search results will list everything you got on Monday, plus any articles the author wrote between Monday and Friday.)

How To Do Boolean Searches Search offers advanced search methods, such as Boolean functions and wild card characters. These are described below.

Boolean Search Operators



You can qualify your search by including the words "and," "or," "not," and "near." You may also qualify your search by using parentheses and quotes. These Boolean search operators and their functions are listed below.

Term1 AND Term2	Both terms must be included in the article.
"Term1 Term2"	This exact phrase must appear in the article.
Term1 OR Term2	One or the other term must be included in the article.
Term1 NEAR Term2	The two terms must appear within eight words of each other.

Using a Wild Card Character



When conducting a search, you may use an asterisk (*) to represent multiple characters. A search for "gun*" will return these articles plus articles containing "gunnery," "gunplay" and so on.

A "*" may be used only at the end of a search term. If you use a wild card, your search must be at least four characters long (including the "*").