Search Tips

The search box, located in the top right of every page, uses the Google search engine. Here are some tips to help achieve the best results:

• Select the arrow [icon] to search all UVic web sites or to find students, faculty, staff and
• departments.
• Find individual UVic sites alphabetically using the A-Z List.
• Do not include "and" between terms.
• Type the most important keyword first.
• Your results include all of your search terms. Try reducing the number of terms to improve
• results.
• Use quotation marks to conduct a phrase search: "under the sea"
• Google ignores common words ("and", "the")
• To include a common word, type space then "+" then the word.
• To exclude a common word, type space then "-" then the word.
• Search for synonyms by typing "~" immediately before the keyword.
• Use capital "OR" between terms to retrieve pages that include either word.
• Change search display to your native language by using Google preferences.