The Online Document System (ODS) is NSF's repository of publications available on the web site. The ODS database stores records of a publication's title, publication date, primary document type and subtype, status, and other related fields. In addition, the documents listed in the ODS are indexed as a separate collection by the NSF search engine.

When a document (such a program announcement or solicitation) is no longer current, its status is set to "archived". If you are interested in submitting proposals for a program listed as archived, please contact the program office before submitting, to make sure proposals are still being accepted.

The application is comprised of a Basic Search and an Advanced Search (also known as Fielded Search).

Basic Searches

Enter a keyword or publication number into the text box and click "go". ODS searches are NOT case sensitive.

Examples: Search on "Grant Proposal Guide" or "GPG" or "NSF 032"

Using the Options Box

You can further refine your search of the ODS by selecting one of the options from the OPTIONS box:

The "Restrict Timeframe" option searches for documents published within a specific timeframe.

The menu boxes for document type and subtype will restrict searches to documents in those categories only.

The "Preferred Format" option allows you to specify a preferred document format. If only one result is found for your search, and if your preferred format is available, that document will be immediately loaded. Otherwise, you will see a list of results and available document types.

Browsing by Document Types and Subtypes

NSF classifies its publications into eleven primary categories:

Directory of Projects:

Lists NSF-funded projects and sites, for example, REU sites

Forms:

Numbered forms. Most proposal submission forms are archived, as all proposals must now be submitted via FastLane.

General Information:

Items of general interest, such as information from the National Science Board

News Releases:

Press releases, media advisories and other information from the Office of Legislative and Public Affairs

Newsletters/Journals:

Regularly issued publications, such as the E-Bulletin

Policies and Procedures:

Documents on NSF policies and procedures, such as the Grant Proposal Guide

Program Announcements & Information:

Information related to NSF funding opportunities, such as the Guide to Programs

Reports:

NSF issued reports, such as GPRA performance and FOIA reports

Statistical Reports on U.S. Science:

Includes Science and Engineering Indicators and other compilations and reports

Summary of Awards:

Documents summarizing awards made by various NSF programs

Vacancy Announcements:

Job Opportunities at the NSF

Subtypes allow users to further refine their search by area of science and other sub categories.

Advanced Searches

Fielded Searches

This search function uses TOPIC software from Verity, Inc. The following document, derived from their Users Guide, provides generic information on how to create search queries in TOPIC.

Search Tips

Writing a query is a way to ask a question about a subject. The way you ask questions in the form of queries determines which documents will be returned. The simplest way is to enter words that describe the subject you are interested in. The information below introduces how to write queries using Verity Topic search features, and covers:

• How to write basic queries
• How to incorporate Verity operators
• Query examples

Basic Queries

You can write a basic query using words and phrases, separated by commas. If you want to see documents about using text editors to create Web documents, you can start with a single-word query, such as:

editor

In this case, your query finds all the documents that include the word "editor." However, this search would include not only documents about text editors, but also documents about people who are editors. (You don't have to specify the plural form, because a basic search includes stemmed variations, such as "editors.") Documents about the Web that did not include the word "editor" would not be retrieved. .

This query returns documents that contain the terms "Web" (case doesn't matter in queries), "laptop computers," or both. Your results list will display a ranked list of documents, with the most relevant documents at the top of the list.

Finding Phrases
Perhaps you want to see documents that refer to a series of words that occur in a specific order, such as "Web publishing with HTML". You could enter the whole phrase:

web publishing with html

This query returns only documents that contain all of these words in the exact sequence you specified, including stemmed variations of the search terms.

Finding a Specific Subject
The simple query returned some documents about the Web, some documents about laptop computers, and some about both subjects. If your real interest is in accessing the Web using a laptop computer, you can use the AND operator to be more specific. You could enter:

web AND laptop computers

This query returns only those documents that contain both "Web" and "laptop computers" in the same document, so this list will be shorter than the results of the query written using commas. (You can enter AND in lower case and it will still be treated as an operator.)

AND is treated as an operator unless it is surrounded by quotation marks. So if you want to use the word "and" as part of a phrase, place it inside quotation marks. For example, to search for the phrase "addresses and URLs", you would enter:

Excluding Terms
You might want to specifically exclude certain documents from your results list. For example, you might want to see documents about most Web browsers, but you're not interested in Lynx. You could enter:

This query returns only documents referring to Web browsers that do not also mention Lynx. If a document includes both "Web browser" and "Lynx," it will be excluded.