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Refinement Menus

netTrekker d.i. gives you the ability to find specific types of content within your search results. When a Search Result contains websites that have more than one form of content, netTrekker d.i. provides menus at the top of the page so that you can narrow your results by choosing any of the available options. Do you need quotations by or about of Abraham Lincoln or a map of South America? Using menus is an easy way to find websites that include what you are looking for.

Example of Menus on a Search Result:

The six Refinement Menus can be used individually or in conjunction with one another. Except in the Subject menu, you can choose any, all or none of the active choices in a menu. You may also choose refinements from any, all or none of the menus at one time. To choose a type of refinement, click on the check box next to it. If a search result does not include a particular type of result, that type will be grayed out in the menu and you will not be able to click on the check box. When you have chosen all the refinements you want from a particular menu, click on the . You then can choose refinements from additional menus.

If you choose more than one type of refinement from an individual menu, your Search Result will include all resources from your original search which include any one or more of those choices. For example, if you choose Bibliographies and Lesson Plans from the Learning Aids menu, your result will show all resources from your original search which have EITHER bibliographies OR lesson plans. Of course, some resources may have both.

If you choose refinements from more than one menu, your Search Result will include all resources from your original search which include your chosen results from both menus. For example, if you choose Learning Exercises from the Learning Aids menu and Interactive Media from the Multimedia menu, your result will show all resources from your original search which have BOTH learning exercises AND interactive media. As you can see, this allows for a great deal of flexibility in the refinement process, as you can choose multiple refinements from individual menus AND choose refinements from multiple menus, combining the EITHER/OR results from individual menus with BOTH/AND results from multiple menus.

The Subject menu can be used with the other Refinement Menus, but the menu itself works differently from the other menus. The Subject menu shows you the subjects from which your Search Results come. For instance, if you do a keyword search on Mars, the Subject refine menu will look something like this:

Example of Subject Menu - Search Result for Keyword Search on "Mars":

You can now refine your Search Results specifically to find resources from netTrekker d.i.'s highly valued Content Partners by using the Collections refinement menu.

From here, you can drill down in a specific subject just as you might from your Home page. For example, if you searched on Mars and are interested in the Mars of mythology rather than Mars, the planet, you can drill down through the Subject Menu, choosing Language Arts rather than Science. Once you have the subject narrowed as much as you want, you can then choose to use the other refinement menus as well, if you wish.

If you wish to return to your original Search Result as it existed before you made any refinements, just click on the Reset button.

Examples of Refinement Menus:

Refinement Menus occur on any type of netTrekker d.i. Search Result, regardless of whether you have performed a Subject Search, Keyword Search, Famous Person Search, Search "in Context", Current Event Search or have created aTimeline.