infoEd SPIN Funding Database
SPIN is a comprehensive database containing over 40,000 funding opportunities from more than 10,000 federal, public, non-profit, and private sponsors.
SPIN Search Engine
The Bloomsburg University community has access to InfoEd’s SPIN search engine. The SPIN database allows users to search for funding opportunities via three types of searches: Basic Text Search, Keyword, or Advanced, all of which are available on a campus computer without a log-in.
SPIN Profile
A SPIN Profile will allow users to access SPIN from any location, save search filters, and receive automated email alerts. If you do not have an account, complete the Profile Request Form. This must be done while accessing the website from an on-campus computer/network. The account must be approved by the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs. Be sure to use your @bloomu.edu or @huskies.bloomu.edu email to ensure your profile is approved. To begin a Basic Text search: SPIN™ text search performs a full-text search against the entire text of the SPIN programs; this includes opportunity titles, sponsor names, synopses, objectives, as well as funding opportunity numbers, email addresses, keywords, and several other fields. The search automatically invokes inflectional forms of the entered words. For example, a search for test will scan all SPIN™ programs for: test, tests, tested, and testing. The search also contains a number of capabilities to build complex searches with various logic and grammar parsing. The commands can be combined together, along with parenthetical logic to dictate the order of operations, for building complex queries defining exactly what you are looking for. The table below lists common examples of the syntax that can be used when constructing text queries.
| Example Input | Description |
|---|---|
| Scientific research | Searches for records containing scientific and research. Inflectional forms of science and research are included. AND is assumed in this example. |
| Scientific OR research | Searches for records containing either scientific or research. Inflectional forms of science and research are included. The OR must be specified. |
| "science research" | Wrapping terms in double quotes searches for records containing the phrase science research. Inflectional forms of science (science, sciences) are included such that results include science research and sciences research. |
| stem -cell | Inserting a minus symbol before a term searches for records containing stem and not cell. |
| lake* | Appending an asterisk to a term invokes a wildcard search: searches for records containing lake and any suffix (e.g. lakes, Lakeland, lakeview). Note that * cannot be the first character of a search. |
| b?ll | A question mark ? serves as a wildcard substitute for a single character. Searching for b?ll will return results for bell, ball, or bill. |
| b?ll "river basin" -columbia | Complex searches combining features can be used as in this example that will find results that include b?ll (bill, ball, bell…) AND the string river basin but will exclude opportunities containing the word columbia. |
Resources and Help
Additional InfoEd tutorials are provided in SPIN under the HELP menu (at right).
