Understanding Search Functionality in Kuali – Kuali

How the Search Works

The search functionality applies to all searches in Kuali - specifically the Document List and Data Lookup searches.

Our search functionality uses MongoDB's Full-Text Search, which helps make finding relevant results quick and efficient. However, there are a few things to be aware of that will affect how search results appear.

Multi-Term Searches

When you enter multiple search terms, results include records that match all terms.

Example:
Searching Computer Engineering returns results that include both Computer and Engineering.

What this means:

Results are more focused and relevant
Fewer unrelated records appear in the results
If no results appear, try simplifying or adjusting your search terms

Title Match Prioritization

Search gives stronger weight to matches in the Title field.

What this means:

Records with matching titles appear higher in the results
Searching by a known title helps surface the most relevant records first
Less time is needed to scan through lower-relevance matches

Filtering Out Common Words (Stop Words)

MongoDB automatically removes certain common words from searches. These are called stop words, and they include words like "of," "the," "himself," and many others. The reason for this is that these words appear so frequently in text that they don't add much value to the search. Removing them helps speed up search performance and improves accuracy.

However, sometimes stop words can interfere with the results. For example, the word "same" is considered a stop word, meaning searches including "same" may not work as expected.

A list of the Mongo stop words can be found here.

Word Stemming: Finding Variations of Words

Another feature of MongoDB's Full-Text Search is word stemming. This means that the system tries to match different versions of the same word. For example:

Searching for "jump" will also return results for "jumped" and "jumping".
Searching for "running" might also return results for "run".

This makes search more flexible and allows you to find content that may not exactly match the typed words but still relates to them.

Search is a powerful tool, and our system is designed to prioritize performance and flexibility by filtering out stop words and using word stemming. Our. goal is to provide an efficient and effective search experience.

Tips for Better Search Results

Use specific terms to narrow results
Try fewer or broader terms if no results appear
Search by title when you know the exact name
Avoid relying on common words, as they may be ignored

If you have any questions or need assistance with search, feel free to submit a support ticket!