Example searches

Strategy for finding abbreviated work titles

Aim: to find quotations from Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island

The abbreviations used for work titles and the forms of authors' names throughout the OED vary considerably. A strategy for finding all these variations is to use the author's surname only, combined with a key string of letters from the work's title.

Open the Advanced search page by clicking .
Select the quotations tab.

This will ensure that the search terms are only matched when they occur in the same quotation, rather than just in the same entry.
Type Stevenson into the first input box.
Select quotation author from the corresponding search area list box.
Select AND from the list box for Operation A.
Type Isl* into the second input box.
Select quotation work from the corresponding search area list box.
Click to start the search.
The results list is displayed.

Note that Treasure Island is cited in a number of different forms.
To go to the top of any entry, click its name (in the left-hand column). To go to the first match in any entry, click the matching term (in the right-hand column).

Help text index:

A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z