Public Function GetDocuments(criteria as String)
    Dim splitCriteria = SplitTheCriteria(criteria)

    dim query = from document in _context.Documents

    For Each item in splitCriteria
        Dim localItem = item
        query = AddCriteriaToQuery(query, localItem)
    Next

    dim matchingDocuments = query.ToList()
End Function

Private Function AddCriteriaToQuery(query as IQueryable(Of Document), criteria as string) as IQueryable(Of Document)
     return query.Where(Function(doc) doc.Name = criteria)
End Function

Public Class Doc

    Private _docName As String
    Public Property DocName() As String
        Get
            Return _docName
        End Get
        Set(ByVal value As String)
            _docName = value
        End Set
    End Property

    Public Sub New(ByVal newDocName As String)
        _docName = newDocName
    End Sub
End Class

Sub Main()
    Dim Documents As New List(Of Doc)
    Documents.Add(New Doc("ABC"))
    Documents.Add(New Doc("DEF"))
    Documents.Add(New Doc("GHI"))
    Documents.Add(New Doc("ABC DEF"))
    Documents.Add(New Doc("DEF GHI"))
    Documents.Add(New Doc("GHI LMN"))

    Dim qry = From docs In Documents

    qry = qry.Where(Function(d) d.DocName.Contains("GHI"))

    Dim qryResults As List(Of Doc) = qry.ToList()

    For Each d As Doc In qryResults
        Console.WriteLine(d.DocName)
    Next

End Sub

query = query.where(Function(s) s = "ABC")