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Q: What is a Knowledge Base?

A: The Ecampus Knowledge Base is a database with hundreds of answers to many commonly asked questions. The two methods of finding information in the Knowledge Base are:

1) Search
2) Navigating through all Question / Answer pairs

Both of these methods will be explained in detail later in this document.

Q: How do I conduct a search?

A: To search for an answer to a question, type your question or your search words into the search box. For example, if you are wondering how much Summer Session will cost, you would type:

"How much will summer session cost?"

or equivalently:

"cost summer session"

When you've finished entering your question or your search words, select the Search button.

Both of these searches will return equivalent results since common words like "it" and "to" are not considered in the search.

The search results will be based upon the five search words "how", "much", "cost", "summer", and "session" and how pertinent those words are to the documents within the Knowledge Base. More relevant documents will appear at the top of the search results area. For more information on searching see topic "Guidelines for an Effective Search."

Q: How do I navigate through the search results?

A: More relevant documents will appear at the top of the search results area. You can conduct a new search at any time by entering new search words or a new question, and selecting the Search button.

Q: How do I read the search results?

A: To read one of the listed Knowledge Base results, select its title.

Q: Can I browse through all the Question/Answer (Q/A) pairs?

A: Yes, you can! Select the "All Q/A" link next to the "help" link. This will bring up a directory structure for all the different categories for which Ecampus has question/answer pairs. You can also click on one of the categories to display its contents. Some of the categories contain sub-categories.

Q: What if I can't get an answer to my question?

If the Knowledge Base does not adequately answer your question, you can call Ecampus at 800-667-1465 between the hours of 8 a.m.-5 p.m. PST Monday through Friday.

Guidelines for an Effective Search

With a little forethought, you can create searches that are more likely to return the answers you need. Follow the tips and rules below to make your searches more effective.

• Don't search on a single, general word, such as classes or onid. You'll get more irrelevant returns than you could possibly sort through.
• Choose two or more words that apply to your specific question.
• No partial word searches. The Knowledge Base does not allow partial word searches. A search on prof will not return documents about professors.
• Searches are not case sensitive. A search on NeXT will return documents containing next, NeXT, Next, etc.
• Single characters are ignored except for numbers
• Many common words are ignored. Words including the, for, should, but, about, these, and many others are ignored by the search. Such common terms would slow your search without helping you find the information you're looking for.
• If your search fails, try searching on synonyms of your search terms. For example, if you can't find what you want by searching on setup, try searching on set up, configure, install, or initialize.
• Try again. Remember that searching is not an exact science. It may take a few tries before you find the answer you need.