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Defining a Search - Setting Search Criteria
The search criteria are set by selecting a specific category, and setting a value for the category selected (either by making selections from a list or typing in text). If search criteria are set in multiple categories within a search, a criterion from each category must be satisfied to produce a "hit" from the SPIN database.
The assumption is that each field is linked by the word "AND", while values within each category are linked by "OR".
The SPIN Search screen displays the category most commonly used to set search criteria. Select a category by clicking on the field name. Or, you can run text searches and Program Number searches using the input categories at the bottom of the screen.
For most categories, a list of values automatically appears, from which you may make selections. To set a value, highlight the desired item by clicking on the item to be selected; if you are making multiple selections from a list, press the Control key while clicking on each item.
The Title, Description and Program Number categories do not have an associated list of values.
You may define your search criteria in whatever way you see fit: many users simply do Keyword searches to obtain a broad range of opportunities; others also include the Applicant Types and Award Types to narrow the results; and yet others use as many fields as possible for each search to obtain the most narrow search results.
- Keywords - The most common field on which to search, keywords are words and terms which are used to describe academic disciplines/areas of interest. The SPIN Keyword Thesaurus is broken into twelve subject areas (click on "Keywords" to view and choose from):
- Agricultural
- Education
- Energy
- Engineering
- Geographical
- Humanities
- Law
- Management and Commerce
- Medical
- Other
- Science and Technology
- Social Sciences
You can check the "All" column (to select all keywords or search hierarchically within that subject area) or you can click on the subject-heading link to see a list of Keywords in that area, from which you can select specific Keywords for your search. Selecting specific keywords will search on the exact keywords selected (not hierarchically). You may select as many Keywords as desired, from as many subject areas as desired. All of the Keywords selected on the Keywords screen will be linked by "OR". To combine one or more Keywords using "AND", click on "Use Boolean AND Logic" in the Keywords window after entering your initial keywords, and enter the "anded" keywords.
If you are uncertain about which major subject heading might contain the Keywords you are looking for, enter a word or phrase in the "Search for Term" box. You can then select keywords from the resulting list.
- Applicant Types - Select all values which describe both the individual and the institution applying for the award. To obtain maximum results, choose both specific and broad values.
- Award Types - Select the values which most accurately describe the type of funding desired, i.e., research project, fellowship support, etc. To obtain maximum results, select all values for which you would accept funding.
- Sponsors - Use this field if you only want to see funding opportunities offered by a certain sponsor(s). If you choose a Federal (government) sponsor which is a "parent" organization to other Federal (government) sponsors, you will get opportunities offered by both the parent organization as well as those underneath it hierarchically. (For example, if you search on National Institutes of Health, you will also get hits from the National Eye Institute, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse & Alcoholism, etc.)
- Sponsor Types - This field allows you to narrow your search by the type of sponsoring organization. You can choose from Federal, State, Non-Federal as broken down by specific type, or All Non-Federal.
- Citizenships - Select the value that describes the individual/institution applying for the award. For maximum results, always include "Any/No Restrictions" as one of your value selections. (Please Note: The value "Any/No Restriction" is coded on opportunities for which there are no eligibility restriction with regard to an applicant's citizenship or the location of the applying institution.)
- Geographic Restrictions - Select the values that describe your area/region. (For example, if you are from New York, select No Restrictions, U.S. Northeast, and New York, to obtain programs that meet any of these criteria.) We would recommend the following: No Restrictions, U.S. Central, U.S. Midwest, U.S. North, and Minnesota. If no values are selected for this field, then your search results may include opportunities which are specifically only for applicants from other states/regions of the country.
- Locations Tenable - Select values which describe the location where you are planning to carry out your project. Be sure to include "Any/No Restrictions" to include opportunities which do not specify a location.
- Deadline Dates - Use this field to obtain search results narrowed by deadline date (or lack of one). Selecting "Deadline Date(s)" from the Search screen will open a window/table where you can select your condition and then enter specific dates. The first row of the table is the default selection; use to include "All" deadlines, inclusive of those that are open. The second row allows you to select a deadline that is Equal To, Greater Than, or Less Than a particular date (from a drop down list). To select the date, click on the Month, Day, and Year boxes and choose from a drop down list. The third row of the table is to define a Range of deadlines on which to search. If you use the Range condition, the "from" and "to" dates selected will be inclusive. You can choose to "Include Programs with Open Deadlines", or search "Open Dates Only".
- Title Contains -This field searches the program by Title. They may have used abbreviations or acronyms, so try to think of different options if your results aren't what you are looking for. This field allows for the specific Boolean logic operators listed underneath Description Contains.
- Description Contains - This field searches the detailed text description of the opportunities(the Objectives and Restrictions sections). This is most useful if you do not find a Keyword that closely matches what you are looking for, or if you want to search by a particular source/publication number (i.e., NSF 97-29).
The following Boolean operators may be used to conduct text searches (shown in English, then symbolically):
- AND, WITH (&): Hits containing both of the terms
- OR (|): Hits containing either of the terms. Just leaving a space between two terms also assumes OR logic. May be used between more than two words. (Ex. Math|Finance|Business)
- NOT, AND NOT, BUT NOT, WITHOUT (!, &!): Hits that exclude the term following the NOT
- Wildcard searches: Use the *
- You may also use [...] for searching.
- Plural stemming is not supported; you need to use the Wildcard (*) to include plurals in your hits
- Program Numbers - This field allows someone to search the SPIN database for a specific program by entering the program number that is assigned to each program in the database.
NOTE: Due to limitations of text searching, a Maximum of 500 Hits will be returned.
The following functions may be selected from the SPIN WWW Search screen:
- "Clear Screen" deletes all items currently selected and displayed on the Search screen, and allows you to start a new search from scratch.
- "Run Search" allows you to search the SPIN database in order to obtain funding opportunity information.
- "Delete Item" brings up a screen that lists each of the items currently selected on the Search Screen, and allows you to delete only the desired items (rather than Clear the entire screen and start over).
After defining your search and selecting Run Search, your search will be executed. When the search is finished, a screen will appear which indicates the number of records selected, and lists the Titles of those records.
At this point, you can...
- print, e-mail, or save the entire Title listing using your Browser functions
- view any record by clicking on its Title. With a record open, you can print, e-mail, or save it using your browser.
- use the options provided on your screen to view/print all of your hits (or selected hits), or save to a file all of your hits (or selected hits). You can view/print or save in three different formats:
- Full Program format: includes Sponsor information, codes assigned to the program, and full detailed text
- Summary format: an abbreviated version; includes Sponsor information and a short (up to six lines) synopsis of text
- Deadline Date format: same as Summary format, only listed in order of deadline date
PLEASE NOTE: These options provide a "run-on" type of report; there are no page breaks between programs.
Do not bookmark or create links to any of the web pages within SPIN WWW. You must enter through the InfoEd page and select SPIN USA every time! If you do not, your search results may not be accurate. You may bookmark this page or the page that says "InfoEd International Access SPIN" at the top.
- Read the on-line help files, this handout is only an introduction to the database.
- If your search returns '0' hits, restart and try using more general terms.
- SPIN searching has a 2-1/2 minute time limit. If your results state "Document contains no data", or another similar error message, try to eliminate some search criteria.
- If you wish, the Grants Development Office would be glad to assist you with any or all aspects of your search.
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