Another Noob Question: Creating Search Form

I think I can achieve what my boss wants with just one table.

I work in a legal department and we track employee contract complaints/issues. Simple data entry is used and one table (Complaints Table) has been created with fields like: employee name, emp #, what union rep issues the complaint, who from our department responded, when the complaint was sent, when the response was sent, two memo fields to describe the problem and the resolution, and ... perhaps most importantly... contract section.

It is possible that one complaint could touch on multiple contract sections.

The data-entry form I've created has the following fields:
contract section 1:
contract section 2:
contract section 3:

Now I need to create a Search Form and I'm having all kinds of headaches trying to understand how to make this work... trouble with setting up the right macro, too.

I'd like the main form to contain the following search fields:
Rec # (which is set as an autonumber in the "Complaints Table")
Employee name
Employee #
Contract Section
...or perhaps just a "contract section" search form...

1. If a contract section # is entered, I want to push a button and have every record of that contract section # filtered from the database and show exactly as the data-entry form beneath the "search" portion of the main form.
(did that make any sense?). I know how to create a general form and subform, but the subform always shows up as a table object rather than a form object. How can I fix that?

2. Some contract sections might be numbered: 3.A.2. ....others might have a longer name like 22.C.3.a.vi.(b). ....
Obviously, the filter/search needs to catch all records which include the contract section specifically, regardless of which of the three "contract section" fields from the main data-entry form contain data.
What's the easiest, non-VBA way of setting that up?

I just know nothing of VBA.

Any help is greatly appreciated...
tango..