WilsonWeb Quick Reference Guide

IV. Searching with WilsonWeb

Searching in a Specific Field

To make your search more precise, you can limit it to a particular field. For example, the search freud in au retrieves only those records in which Freud is cited as the author of the document. You can search in a particular field by specifying that field in the Search or SearchPlus page or by selecting it in the Index.

In the Search Page:

If necessary, click Search on the button bar. WilsonWeb displays the Search page.
Type a word or phrase in the text-entry box.
Click SearchNOW. WilsonWeb performs the search and indicates how many records it finds.

In the SearchPlus Page:

Click SearchPlus on the button bar. WilsonWeb displays the SearchPlus page.
Type a word or phrase in the text-entry box.
From the drop-down list that follows your term, select the field in which you want to search.
To qualify your search further, check the Boolean operators And, Or, Not or choose an article type or publication year.
Click SearchNOW. WilsonWeb performs the search and indicates how many records it finds.

In the Browse Mode:

Click Browse on the button bar.
Type a term in the Term: text entry box.
In the Field: drop-down list, select the field in which you want to look up the term.
Click Display. WilsonWeb displays an alphabetical list of the terms contained in the selected field, beginning with the term you typed, and indicates in parentheses the number of records that contain each term.
Scroll through the index terms and check one or more terms as you scroll.
Click SearchNOW to search for records that contain the selected term(s). If you selected multiple terms, WilsonWeb combines them with the or operator and finds records that contain any of the terms.

Truncation and Wildcards

Truncation and wildcards allow you to retrieve variations of your search term when you construct searches in the Search and SearchPlus pages.

The truncation symbol (*) serves as a substitute for any string of zero or more characters. For example, the search cat* retrieves catatonic, category, catholic, etc.

The wildcard symbol (?) serves as a substitute for one character or none. For example, the search m?cdonald retrieves both mcdonald and macdonald; the search dra???t retrieves both draft and draught.

You can use truncation or wildcards anywhere in your search term, except as the first character. Since truncation is time-consuming and often results in false hits, you may find that it is more precise to select variations of your term from the Index.

Searching in All Searchable-Text Fields

The most basic search technique is to search for a word or phrase in all of the "searchable-text" fields—those that have not been individually indexed—in the database(s) you are using.

To Search in All Searchable-Text Fields:

Type a word or phrase in the Term: text entry box in the Search page.
Leave the field in which to search as the default, "Words Anywhere."
Click the SearchNOW button to begin the search. WilsonWeb retrieves records that contain your search term in any searchable-text field.

Searching in the Browse Mode

The WilsonWeb Browse allows you to browse the terms contained in a field and to select and search for variations of the term.

To Search the Browse:

Click Browse on the button bar. WilsonWeb displays the Browse page.
Type a term in the Term: text entry box.
In the Field: drop-down list, select the field in which you want to look up the term.
Click Display. WilsonWeb displays an alphabetical list of the terms contained in the selected field, beginning with the term you typed, and indicates in parentheses the number of records that contain each term.

To Search for Terms:

Scroll through the Browse terms on the current page, or click Previous or Next to show the previous or next range of Browse terms. (You can change the number of Browse terms that WilsonWeb displays per page by selecting a number from the Previous/Next Terms drop-down list.)
Check one or more terms as you scroll.
Click SearchNOW to search for records that contain the selected term(s). If you selected multiple terms, WilsonWeb combines them with the or operator and finds records that contain any of the terms.

Note: To search for one term, click on the term rather than its checkbox. WilsonWeb searches for the term automatically.

Searching with Operators

WilsonWeb has several operators that allow you to form compound search requests.

and Finds records that contain both of two terms.

in Finds records that contain a term in a specified field.

near Finds records that contain both of two terms in the same sentence.

not Finds records that contain one term but not another

or Finds records that contain either or both of two terms.

with Finds records that contain both of two terms in the same field.

To Use an Operator:

Type a term in the text entry area of the Search page.
Type one of the operators listed above, depending on how you want to combine the terms.
Type a second term after the operator and click the SearchNOW button.

Note: Beginning a search request with an operator (skipping step #1 above) automatically combines that request with the previous one. For instance, if the search you just completed is radio-tagging, searching for and frogs will give you the same results as if you search for radio-tagging and frogs. Similarly, the search red tide followed by the search in ti is the same as red tide in ti. There are also special limit field operators which can be used to find occurrences of a term, or range of terms, in the limit field you specify.

And

Use the and operator in the text entry area of the Search page to retrieve records containing both of two terms. For example, search for dyslexia and child to retrieve only records that contain both dyslexia and child.

Since and eliminates records containing only one of the terms, it is useful for making your search more precise.

Use the in operator in the text entry area of the Search page to search in a specific field. For example, search for 3m in ti to retrieve only records with 3M in the Title (TI) field.

Near

Use the near operator in the text entry area of the Search page to retrieve records that contain both of two terms in the same sentence. For example, search for dyslexia near child to retrieve only records that contain dyslexia and child in the same sentence. Either term can appear first. The terms usually have a closer relationship than and or with. This operator is particularly helpful in searching abstract databases. In non-abstract databases, it generally searches terms in the same field.

You can add a number to near to specify how close together the terms must be. For example, computer near3 hardware finds the two terms within three words of each other, in any order, in the same sentence.

Since near requires that the two terms be in the same sentence, it is useful for making your search more precise.

Not

Use the not operator in the text entry area of the Search page to retrieve records containing one term but not another. For example, search for dyslexia not adult to retrieve only records containing dyslexia but not adult.

Be careful when using not. In the above example, there may be records that mention the word adult, but are predominantly about other forms of dyslexia. Although the records would be relevant to your search, using not would prevent you from retrieving them.

Use the or operator in the text entry area of the Search page to retrieve records containing either or both of two terms. For example, search for dyslexia or learning disabilities to retrieve records containing either dyslexia or learning disabilities, or both.

The or operator enables you to retrieve synonymous terms, and is useful for broadening your search.

With

Use the with operator in the text entry area of the Search page to retrieve records containing both of two terms in the same field. For example, search for dyslexia with child to retrieve only records containing dyslexia and child in the same field. Either term can appear first.

Since with requires that the terms be in the same field, it makes your search precise.

Using Parentheses

Use parentheses to avoid ambiguity in complex search statements. For example, suppose you want to retrieve records that discuss cancer in women or cancer in men.

The search request cancer and men or women retrieves records that discuss cancer and men, and records that discuss women, but not necessarily records that discuss cancer and women.

The search request cancer and (men or women) retrieves records that discuss cancer and either men or women, which is what you intended.

If you omit parentheses from a complex search statement, WilsonWeb automatically inserts them. Check the Search History window to see if the program’s interpretation is what you intended. If it is not, click Cancel to stop the search and edit the search request.

Limit Field Operators

Limit fields are specially indexed fields that have relatively few possible values. They allow you to limit your searches to records of a particular characteristic, such as type of publication or language of text.

To search a limit field, type the limit field label in the text entry area of the Search page, followed by =, followed by a value. For example, to retrieve documents originally published in French, type la=french, where LA is the field label for the Language field.

The following operators can also be used with certain limit fields, generally those containing numeric data. Refer to the Guide to determine the fields to which these apply.

< less than, such as py<1990

> greater than, such as py>1991

<= less than or equal to, such as py<=1989

>= greater than or equal to, such as py>=1992

- within a range, such as py=1990-1992

Searching Multiple Databases

With WilsonWeb, you can select and search more than one database at a time. When doing so, you should keep the following in mind:

The databases may not have all fields in common. If you limit your search to a specific field (either in the Search page or in Browse mode), you will only retrieve records from those databases that contain the field.
Each database has its own set of Guides, available on each Help page.

Searching for Authors

Most databases contain an author field, usually abbreviated AU. Many databases also include other types of author fields, such as a corporate author field (often CA). You can search for author information directly in these fields, or you can select author names from the index in Browse mode.

Searching in Author Fields:

Author names are usually hyphenated and appear last name first, such as orwell-george. When searching directly for an author, either search for the author’s name as a hyphenated phrase, such as orwell-george in au, or truncate the last name, such as orwell* in au.

Searching in Browse:

If you are unsure of the spelling of an author’s name, you can select it from Browse. The Index will list all variations of the author’s name.

Using the Search History

The Search History page lists the searches you have performed and indicates the number of records retrieved by each. You can combine searches to form a new one, and you can remove searches.

To Display the Search History:

After performing a search, click the History button.

To Combine Searches:

Check two or more searches that you want to combine.
Select and or or to find records that contain all of the selected search terms, or any of the selected search terms, respectively.
Click Combine. WilsonWeb performs the new search.

Note: You can also combine searches directly in the text entry area. To do so, type the numbers of the searches you want to combine, separated by the operator with which you want to combine them. For example, #2 and #5.

To Remove Searches:

Check the search(es) that you want to delete.
Click Remove. WilsonWeb erases the search(es) from the history, and renumbers any remaining searches, if necessary.
Retype search(es).

To Retype Searches:

Check the search term(s) you want to retype.
Click Retype.