Tips and Tricks for Searching:

Boolean Search

Using a combination of keywords and operators to filter your search parameters make it easier to find the information you are looking for.

  • Quotation marks " " help specify the search terms and narrow down your results. If quotations are not used, your search results could include just one of your keywords, leaving a lot of possibilities to filter through.
  • Operators AND, OR, AND NOT direct the search and narrow down results even further.

Examples:

In this example, using quotations will only show results with the exact phrase "riverfront redevelopment":

Peoria Quotation Search Example

In this example, filter results using the AND operator to only show items having both "Northwoods" and "Parking".

Peoria AND Search Example

In this example, widen results by searching for one OR the other keywords – the following search would result in items with "DDC" or "downtown development corporation":

Peoria OR Search Example

In this example, narrow results by filtering out a keyword using the AND NOT operator – the following search would result in items with "westlake" but filter out the ones that also include "zoning":

Peoria AND NOT Search Example

Search Fields

Selecting or deselecting the following fields can widen or narrow your results as desired:

  • File # - searches the designated file numbers or enactment numbers of legislation.
  • Text - searches the text of the legislation for keywords.
  • Attachments - searches for keywords in the names and content of attachments of legislative files.
  • Other info - searches related information, such as the legislation type, status, sponsor, etc.
Peoria Search Fields Example

Wildcard (asterisk)

Entering a word followed by an asterisk (wildcard) will return records that contain that word or words that have more letters wherever the asterisk is placed.

In this example, variations of 'leas' at the beginning of a word will show up, including 'leasing', 'lease', 'leases', etc. – but 'sublease' will not show up since it did not begin with 'leas':

Peoria Asterisk Search Example

NOTES

  • For more search tips, click HERE
  • Special characters (!, #, %, etc.) aren’t searchable.