Advanced Search

Didn't find what you were after with a basic search? Try an Advanced Search, which will give you more options to narrow down your results. The above video is a fantastic place to start when learning how to use this Trove feature.


How to Conduct an Advanced Search 

Below are instructions on how to conduct an Advanced Search: 

1. In the Search box at the top of the Trove page, enter keyword/s for what you want to search. Ensure that the spelling is correct – Trove will search exactly what is entered.

Note: You can enter keyword/s in Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander languages and non-English languages. You can also enter the name of an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander language to get results that may contain the language.

Examples:

  • Enter tjukinya to find items with this keyword in Pitjantjatjara language
  • Enter Pitjantjatjara to find items that may have Pitjantjatjara language content
  • Enter viaggio to find items with this keyword in Italian language

2. Select a category from the Advanced Search drop-down menu underneath the green magnifying glass button.

Location of Advanced Search on Homepage

Trove will generate filter options for your selected category, followed by a list of search results containing your keyword.

3. Add or change keyword/s in the filter options to modify your search. The filters available to you depends on the category you select. You need to enter a keyword into at least one of these filters, additionally you can also use multiple filters:

  • Key word - Search for word/s anywhere in your Trove search results. 
  • Title - Search for key word/s in the title of your Trove search results. (This applies to magazines, newsletters or articles only)
  • Creator - Search for the name/s of the creator, including author, editor, illustrator, etc.
  • Subject - Search for key word/s in the subject headings.
  • All of these words - Get results containing every word.
  • Any of these words - Get results containing one or more of your key words.
  • The phrase - Get results containing a phrase.
  • Without these words - Do not get results containing one or more key words.
  • Type - Newspaper & Gazette, Magazines & Newsletters, Images, Maps & Artefacts, Research & Reports, Books & Libraries, Diaries, Letters & Archives, Music, Audio & Video, People & Organisations, websites.
  • Titles and places - Publication titles (listed with their location and date range).

Note: To search for a state or publication title, enter its name eg: New South Wales or Age. The state name/publication title will appear in the drop-down list. When a full state name appears, its publication titles also appear alphabetically underneath it and can be scrolled through. When you select the state name/publication title, it will appear in the search field as a green tag.

4. Enter keyword/s and/or select from the drop-down menus in the boxed filter options to further limit your search results and improve the accuracy of your search. The filters available to you depends on the category you select:

  • Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Language - Includes Austlang codes.
  • Access - If it is online, freely available or otherwise.
  • Article Category - Type of article.
  • Australian Content - Created in Australia, by an Australian or about Australia.
  • Australian Government Web Archive - Select to limit to websites with addresses ending in gov.au, with the additional option of selecting a state.
  • Date of Birth/Establishment - Of the person/organisation. 
  • Date of Death/Dissolution - Of the person/organisation. 
  • Exists From - Date range when the person or organisation existed.
  • Format - Type of publication.
  • Funder – Includes Australian Research Council (ARC) and National Health and Medical Research Council (NMRC).
  • Illustration Type - Type of illustration (if article contains illustrations).
  • ISBN - International Standard Book Number.
  • ISSN - International Standard Serial Number.
  • Language.
  • Limit by Domain - Enter a specific domain to search within.
  • Limit by File Type - Search for a specific type of file.
  • Map Scale.
  • Occupation - Of the person.
  • Organisations - Organisation where the item is held.
  • Public Tag - Tags added publicly to digitised articles.
  • Rights - If it is in copyright, or has other rights or licence statements.
  • Snapshot Date - Date range that the website was online and archived.
  • Year Range - Date of article publication.
  • Word Count.

5. When you have made your filter selections, select the green magnifying glass button underneath the boxed filter options on the right-hand side. Trove will generate a filtered search results list.

6. You can further Refine your Results by selecting from the menu on the right-hand side of the results list.

Note:

  • If you would like a more specific search, you can customise it by using a complex search query which combines search commands with your keywords. More information about this can be found here.
  • To see the most recent results, change the Sort by option to Year (latest first).
  • If you are searching the Research and Reports category:
    • Some online repositories in universities might not have their own NUC code, and won't be listed in the Collections field
    • If you select a digital repository you might be excluding physical copies of theses from your results
    • The institution holding the thesis is not always the institution that produced the research
    • The institution that produced the thesis is sometimes listed in the Trove record as contributor, but can also be found under publisher, subject or notes

Highlighted words in articles

When you view an article from your search results, the keyword/s that you used will appear highlighted in yellow. This happens only if the word matches exactly.

For example, punctuation can affect whether or not a keyword is highlighted. In a search for "MacNay", occurrences of "Mac’Nay" will also be included in search results but will not be highlighted.

When searching for a phrase, all occurrences of individual terms from that phrase will be highlighted, in addition to the phrase itself. For example, a search for the phrase "Beat around the bush" will also highlight occurrences of "beat", "around", "the" and "bush".

For information on how to remove text highlighting, please visit the Printing Help page.