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Search the Department of Education Services site

To enter a query into the search field, just type in a few descriptive words and hit the 'enter' key (or click on the Search button) for a list of relevant web pages. Since the pages that are returned contain all the words in your query, refining or narrowing your search is as simple as adding more words to the search terms you have already entered. If you are having trouble finding the information you are looking for, see the search tips below or send an email to des@des.wa.gov.au.

For best results, it's important to choose your keywords wisely. Keep these tips in mind: Try the obvious first. Use words likely to appear on the DES site with the information you want. Make keywords as specific as possible.

Automatic "and" Queries

By default, the only pages that are returned include all of your search terms. There is no need to include "and" between terms. Keep in mind that the order in which the terms are typed will affect the search results. To restrict a search further, just include more terms.

Automatic Exclusion of Common Words

Common words and characters such as "where" and "how" are ignored, as well as certain single digits and single letters, because they tend to slow down your search without improving the results. The search will indicate if a common word has been excluded by displaying details on the results page below the search box.

If a common word is essential to getting the results you want, you can include it by putting a "+" sign in front of it. (Be sure to include a space before the "+" sign.) Another method for doing this is conducting a phrase search, which simply means putting quotation marks around two or more words. Common words in a phrase search (e.g., "International Education") are included in the search.

Capitalization

Searches are not case sensitive. All letters, regardless of how you type them, will be understood as lower case.

Word Variations (Stemming)

When appropriate, the search engine will search not only for your search terms, but also for words that are similar to some or all of those terms. Any variants of your terms that were searched for will be highlighted in the snippet of text accompanying each result.