NCpedia has a number of search and discovery features to help you find content about North Carolina and to help answer your research questions. This page covers these features and also includes tips for searching.

Keyword searches

You can search NCpedia content using keywords in the same way you would use a keyword to search for content in your Internet browser.

NCpedia home page search features

Locate the "Search NCpedia" box in the middle of the home page or at the right of each article page you visit. You'll find this feature in the middle of the home page just above the words "Explore NCpedia by. . ."  (See image --  look for the red circle.)

Type a keyword into the box where you see "Search NCpedia" and then click "Go!". You'll see search results in a new page.

Here are a few examples of keyword searches:
  • Let's imagine you want to find information about North Carolina's Piedmont region. Type the word "piedmont" (quotation marks are not needed) into the Search NCpedia box.
  • If you were interested in locating information about the culture of the piedmont region, you could type the words "piedmont culture" (no quotation marks are needed).

Popular Topics

NCpedia has organized numerous subject collections to help you find content more easily for commonly researched questions and for some of the most popular North Carolina history and culture topics. 

The home page features six of the most popular subject areas: 

  1. Biographies 
  2. State Symbols
  3. Counties 
  4. Geography 
  5. World War I
  6. For Educators (resources) 

Many more popular topic collections can be found by clicking the text "Popular Topics."  (See image -- look for the blue circle.)

Alphabet Browse

Traditional print encyclopedias are organized alphabetically. NCpedia also has an alphabet browse search feature. You'll find it at the bottom of the "Explore NCpedia by. . ." box. (See image --  look for the green circle and you'll see the alphabet from A to Z.)

Explore by Topic

NCpedia articles are tagged with subject terms. Click on the green "Topic" box in the search features box to explore content by topic. You'll find this below the words "Explore NCpedia by. . ."  (See image --  look for the green circle.) After you click on "Topic" you'll land on a page with a listing of NCpedia's subject terms. Click on a subject you're interested in and you'll see a list of articles tagged with that term. You can also search buy a subject area you are interested in using a keyword search in the "Search NCpedia" box.

Other for Searching, Exploring and Discovering 

In the search features box you'll also find a number of other options for exploring NCpedia content.  You'll find this option below the words "Explore NCpedia by. . ." in eight green buttons (See image --  look for the green circle.)

These search options include:

  • Place: NCpedia articles are tagged by location such as region, county, and city/town.  You can find and explore content related to all of the North Carolina's 100 counties and many other locations around the state.

  • Publication: Some users may want to explore content from individual content publishers that have contributed to NCpedia. Click on this link to learn more about the publishers who have contributed to NCpedia and to explore their content.

  • Author: Hundreds of individual authors have contributed to NCpedia.  Click on this feature and you can see all of the individual authors and explore content by author.

  • Educator Resources: NCpedia has more than 100 lessons plans included with numerous articles. Click on this button to see content created with educators and their students in mind. 

  • Quick Facts: Click this button to visit a page that has up-to-date quick facts about North Carolina.

 

Citation

"How to Search NCpedia." NCpedia. Government & Heritage Library, State Library of North Carolina. Accessed on December 14th, 2024. https://www.ncpedia.org/ncpedia-search-help.