Once you have completed a search in the THOMAS Bill Text files, your search results are returned on a page with a "navigation panel" at the top and bottom. The set of links in the panel allows you to move quickly and efficiently through your search results set or "hit list." The navigation panel in the Bill Text files appears in this format:
THIS SEARCH THIS DOCUMENT GO TO Next Hit Forward New Search Prev Hit Back HomePage Hit List Best Sections Help Doc ContentsIf more than one record is returned as a result of your bill text search, a "hit list" -- list of bills in a brief display -- will be presented. The "brief display" shows the bill title, bill version (e.g., Introduced in the House, Placed in the Senate, Reported in the Senate), and the bill number, which is a hypertext link.
At this brief display only the three links in the GO TO section of the navigation panel are active:
When you select one of the hypertext bill links from the brief display, the full display is presented. There are two versions of the full display. (1) If the selected bill version is short (under 10K), the entire text of the bill is displayed on the screen. (2) If the selected bill version is longer than 10K, a clickable table of contents for the bill version is shown. (Each line in the table of contents represents an entry point into the text of the bill at that section.)
In the full display, several additional links in the "navigation panel" are active.
In the THIS SEARCH section of the panel, you can select from among these links:
In the THIS DOCUMENT section of the navigation panel, choose from among these links:
For example, perhaps you are interested only in the section of defense appropriations bills that mention the purchase of tracked combat vehicles. Do a search on the phrase "tracked combat vehicles." Select the bill link for a version of the defense appropriations bill from the brief display "hit list." When the full display (table of contents version) of the bill appears, go to the navigation panel at the top of the page and click on "Best Sections." You will then see a brief listing of sections of the bill that contain your search phrase: "tracked combat vehicles." You can view the text of these sections only, without having to read through the entire bill to find the instance of your search word/phrase.
Press the Back
button of your browser to return
to your Bill Text search.
The navigation panel in the Congressional Record Text files appears in this format:
THIS SEARCH THIS DOCUMENT THIS CR ISSUE GO TO Next Hit Forward Next Document New Search Prev Hit Back Prev Document HomePage Hit List Best Sections Daily Digest Help Doc Contents [Part] Contents CR Issues by Date
If more than one document is returned as a result of your Congressional Record text search, a "hit list" -- list of documents in a brief display -- will be presented. This list of documents in the brief format shows the document title, the section of the Record the document appears in (House, Senate, Extensions of Remarks, Daily Digest), and the date of the issue of the Record in which the document appeared. The section and date are a hyperlink to the full display for that document.
At this brief display only four links (in the GO TO section) of the navigation panel are active:
GO TO
When you select one of the hypertext document links from the brief results list for viewing, the full display of the Record document appears. If the document is short (under 10K), the full display is the entire text of the document. If the document is lengthy, a table of contents for that document is shown. Each of the clickable lines in the table of contents takes you to a section of the text of that Congressional Record document -- table of content lines may be topics, Member names (to mark comment on the floor or text inserted by the Member), or even page numbers corresponding to the page number in the printed edition of the Record for that document.
In this full display of the document, additional links from the THIS SEARCH, THIS DOCUMENT, and THIS ISSUE sections of the navigation panel are active and selectable.
Press the Back
button of your browser to return
to your Congressional Record Text search.
THIS SEARCH THIS DOCUMENT GO TO Next Hit Forward New Search Prev Hit Back HomePage Hit List Best Sections Help Doc ContentsIf more than one committee report is returned as a result of your search in the text of committee reports, a "hit list" -- list of reports in a brief display -- will be presented. The "brief display" shows the report title and report number, which is a hypertext link to the full display.
At this brief display only the three links (in the GO TO section) of the navigation panel are active:
When you select one of the hypertext committee report links from the brief display, the full display is presented. There are two versions of the full display. (1) If the selected report is very short (under 10K), the entire text of the report is displayed on the screen. (2) If the selected report is longer than 10K, a clickable table of contents for the report is shown. (Each line in the table of contents represents an entry point into the text of the report at that section.)
In the full display, several additional links in the "navigation panel" are active.
In the THIS SEARCH section of the panel, you can select from among these links:
In the THIS DOCUMENT section of the navigation panel, choose from among these links:
For example, perhaps you are interested only in the section of the reports on the endangered species act that mention the spotted owl. Do a search on the phrase "spotted owl." Select the report link for the House Report on the Endangered Species Conservation Management Act from the brief display "hit list." When the full display (table of contents version) of the report appears, go to the navigation panel at the top of the page and click on "Best Sections." You will then see a brief listing of sections of the report that contain your search phrase: "spotted owl." You can view the text of these sections only, without having to read through the entire bill to find the instance of your search word/phrase.
Press the Back
button of your browser to return
to your Committee Reports search.
Last Update Sat Jan 4 1997