III. Searching

You can retrieve records from a database in a variety of different ways depending on your search concepts, the database you are searching, and your preference.

The first part of this chapter illustrates the various techniques of using the search screen:

• Using Search +

• Valid search statements

• Using truncation and wildcards

• Searching for hyphenated phrases

• Using parentheses

• Combining terms with operators

• Searching in specific fields

• Searching in limit fields

The second part of the chapter addresses some of the more advanced WilsonDisc for Windows functions:

• Using Browse

• Using the Thesaurus

• Using the Search History

• Using Retrieved Records

• Searching other discs and databases

• Narrowing and broadening your search

Using the Search Screen

Identify terms or concepts that describe your search objective. Once you have your topic, think of the search terms that represent the search topic.
Next, evaluate your search terms in relation to the database—do they adequately describe the topic? Will they be too specific or too general? The answers to these questions depend on many factors including the scope of the database you choose to search.

Once you identify the objective of your search, you can determine how to search the database.

Using Search +

The Search + dialog boxes enable you to perform an advanced search. To perform a Boolean search, enter a term in the Keyword: text entry box, select And, Or, or Not, and enter another term in the second text entry box. You can further qualify your search by entering terms in any of the available text entry areas, or by selecting from the drop-down lists.

1. Enter a term in any of the text entry areas
   In some cases you can click on a down arrow to select from a list

2. Click Reset to clear the dialog box

3. Click Search+ to activate your search

4. Check Re-open after search to either have the Search+ box remain open so you can edit your search criteria or have it close after you submit your search.

Valid Search Statements

Below are examples of search requests that you can type in the Find records dialog box. Each request can be up to 1024 characters long.

Using Truncation and Wildcards

You can retrieve variations of a search term by using truncation and wildcards. This is a useful means of broadening a search that has retrieved too few records.

The truncation symbol (*) serves as a substitute for any string of zero or more characters. For example, type automat* to retrieve automated, automatic, automation.

The wildcard symbol (?) serves as a substitute for one character or none. For example, type m?cdonald to retrieve McDonald or MacDonald.

The truncation and wildcard symbols can be used anywhere in your search term, except as the first character.

Searching for Hyphenated Phrases

Often, the individual words of a phrase are hyphenated so that the complete phrase can be browsed, rather than just the individual words. For example, authors’ names are hyphenated so that the first and last names are kept together in the Browse. Similarly, controlled vocabulary terms, such as descriptors, are hyphenated so that key phrases are kept intact.

In WilsonDisc for Windows, however, when searching a field that uses hyphens, you can omit them from your search request.

Omitting Hyphens for a Broad Search

If the field you are searching uses hyphens, you can omit them from your search term to retrieve variations of your term. For example, if you are searching the Descriptors (DE) field, the search request marine in de retrieves occurrences of marine, marine-ecology, marine-mammals, marine-pollution, and so on. Similarly, in the Authors (AU) field, the search lindeman in au retrieves records authored by Douglas Lindeman, Joan Lindeman, Les Lindeman, and so on.

Combining Terms with Operators

Operators are words that have a special meaning. You can use them to combine search terms into a more complex search statement.

 
To combine terms with an operator:

1. Enter your first term in the search: text entry area.

2. Type the operator you want to use after your first term.

3. Enter your second term after the operator.

4. Click Search.

Using Parentheses

Use parentheses to avoid ambiguity in complex search statements. For example, suppose you want to retrieve records that discuss rabies in dogs or rabies in cats.

The search request rabies and dogs or cats retrieves records that discuss rabies and dogs, and records that discuss cats, but not necessarily records that discuss rabies and cats.

The search request rabies and (dogs or cats) retrieves records that discuss rabies and either dogs or cats, which is what you intended.

If you omit parentheses from a complex search statement, WilsonDisc for Windows 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.

Searching in Specific Fields

You can narrow your search by limiting it to a particular field or group of fields in the database. By searching only in relevant fields, you can eliminate false hits.

For example, suppose you are looking for the works of a particular author. Rather than search the entire database, you can search only those fields that contain author information, such as the Author (AU) and Corporate Author (CA) fields.

To search in a specific field:

1. In the search: text entry area:
   Type a term or phrase followed by in and the label of the field you want to search. For example, to search for Freud in the Author (AU) field, type freud in au.

2. Click OK.

You can also use the Fields to search. . . command from the Utilities menu. This menu item lets you restrict your search to specific fields or pre-defined groups of fields (fieldsets), such as Citation.

Field List dialog box
 

Field-specific indices also provide a way to search particular fields. For more information, refer to the "Using Browse" section.

Searching in Limit Fields

Each database contains several specially indexed fields called limit fields. Limit fields typically contain information common to a large number of records, such as publication year or language. A limit field search can be very helpful in combination with other search statements.

When you search for terms in limit fields, you must use the field label, along with the in operator, the = operator, or, if the limit field contains numeric data, one of the range operators described in the table below. For example, to search for articles published in French, you might search the Language (LA) field as follows: french in la or la=french.

In limit fields that contain numeric values, such as publication year, you can also use the following special range operators:

Note: When you search without specifying a field (such as the statement french), or if you search from the free-text Browse, limit fields are not searched.

Limit fields vary according to the database. Click the Limit . . . button in the Search History area for a list of the limit fields in the database you are using or refer to the online Guide.

You can perform a limit search by entering your search statement in the search: text entry area or by selecting a search from the Search History and applying a limit search.

1. Click on a search listed in the Search History.

2. Click the Limit. . . button to display the Limit Search dialog box.
   
   Limit Search Dialog Box

3. Select a limit field from the Limit Search by: section of the dialog box.

4. Select the limit operator you want to use, such as Equals.

5. Select a limiting value from the Limiting Values: section of the dialog box. The search you are constructing will appear at the bottom of the dialog box.

6. Click OK when you have completed building the limit search. WilsonDisc for Windows performs the search. The results are displayed in the Search History and the retrieved records are displayed in the Retrieved Records area.

Using Browse

Browse is an alphabetical list of all of the searchable terms in the database. Look in the Browse when you are unsure of the exact spelling of a term or how it is used in the database. By selecting specific terms in the Browse screen you can narrow your search, or you can combine specific terms to broaden your search.

This section provides step-by-step instructions on using the Browse.

Open Browse via one of the following:

1. Click Browse on the button bar

2. Choose Browse from the Views menu

3. Press F5

On the Browse screen the name of the index being browsed appears in parentheses beside the Browse: label. If you type a term in the search: text entry area and then open the Browse, WilsonDisc for Windows automatically displays the term or its closest match in the Browse Terms area.

Note: Some databases have additional, field-specific indexes that enable you to view a precise Browse for a field.

On the Browse screen you can:

1. Search a term in the Browse: text entry area

2. View the records associated with a Browse term

3. Search for selected Browse terms

4. Change the Browse you are searching

Looking Up Terms in Browse

To search a term in Browse, type the term or phrase. As you type, Browse scrolls to the appropriate section of the list. The Browse Terms area displays the portion of the list beginning with the term you typed or its closest match. The number of records containing the Browse term appears to the left of the term. The term you entered is highlighted.

Browse Screen Functions

Use the scroll bar to browse the Browse Terms list to see the terms similar to the one you originally looked up. Click on a term to highlight it.

Note: To erase text that you typed in the Browse: area, choose Clear Search Area from the Edit menu or press Ctrl + Del.

Showing Records

The Retrieved Records area displays records associated with the term you looked up.

Click the upper OK button to display the records associated with a term you enter at the Browse: text record area.

Click the lower Show button to display records associated with a term you select from the Browse Terms area.

You can search for selected Browse terms by clicking Search.

Searching for Browse Terms

To search for a Browse term, highlight the term in the Browse Terms area and click the Search button. Highlight multiple terms by holding down the Ctrl key and clicking on additional terms or holding down the mouse button and dragging over the terms you want to highlight.

When you click Search, WilsonDisc for Windows goes to the search screen and searches for all of the terms you selected individually and then combines them with the or operator. Each search is listed in the Search History area on the search screen.

Finding Specific Terms

You can use the Browse list to find more specific terms to describe your search topic. For example, if you searched for the term education in an education-related database, you would retrieve a large number of records covering all different topics in education. But if you looked up education in the Browse list and chose the more specific term education-finance, your search would be more specific and would eliminate records covering such topics such as education-standards or education-statistics. Selecting records from the Browse list is efficient because it lets you be selective in choosing search terms; you can bypass terms you do not want to search for.

The Browse list is especially useful when you are narrowing your search to records by a particular author, since an author’s name may be listed differently in different records. For example, C.L.E Katona may appear as C. Katona in one record, and as Cornelius Katona in another. The Browse lists all the ways an author’s name appears in the database and lets you select them for searching.

Changing Indexes

Most databases have a free-text index and one or more field-specific indexes. When you move to the Browse screen, you can choose terms from the free-text index or you can choose another index that is available for the database.

To choose another index:

1. Click the Change . . . button or choose Change Index. . . from the Options menu to display the Available Indexes dialog box for the database you are using.
   
   Available Indexes dialog box

2. Click on the desired Index.
   You can select more than one field-specific Index by holding down the Ctrl key and clicking on the Indexes you want to search. However, the free-text Index can only be searched by itself.

3. Click Select to select the Index or Indexes you want to search and to return to the Browse screen. The names of the Indexes you selected appear in parentheses next to the Browse: prompt.

Using the Thesaurus

The Thesaurus is a list of controlled vocabulary terms used to browse records in a database. With a controlled vocabulary, consistent terminology is assigned to record contents for a more reliable search of the database.

Use the Thesaurus to identify the controlled vocabulary terms that most accurately represent your topic.

Note: There is some variation among thesauri; see the online Guide for information about the Thesaurus for the database you are using. The Thesaurus feature is not available for all Wilson databases.

To open the Thesaurus:

1. Press F9

2. Choose Thesaurus from the Views menu

3. Click the Thesaurus button on the button bar

The Thesaurus screen appears showing the Permuted Index. If you typed a term in the search: text entry area and then opened the Thesaurus, WilsonDisc for Windows displays the term or its closest match in the Permuted Index.

Using the Permuted Index

The Permuted Index is an alphabetical list of every significant word in the controlled vocabulary. Each word is shown in all the descriptor phrases in which it occurs. The Permuted Index includes subject headings and enterable terms, along with related terms, synonyms, and preferred terms.

To search a term, type the term in the text entry area and click OK. WilsonDisc for Windows displays the portion of the Permuted Index beginning with the term you typed (or its closest match).

To browse the Permuted Index, use the scroll bar to scroll up or down through the terms. In the Permuted Index you can select a term or terms and search for them. You can also look at Term Information for a term.

Selecting and Searching for Terms

From the Permuted Index, you can search for a single term or create a list of terms for later searching.

1. Click on the desired term.

2. From the search Options select Single Term to search for the selected term; select Explode to search for the selected term plus any narrower terms.

3. Search for the term immediately: Click the Search Now button. WilsonDisc for Windows conducts your search. After the search, you can return to your Thesaurus position, open the Thesaurus again, and choose Show Thesaurus History from the Options menu. Highlight the term which you want to redisplay, and click OK.

4. Search a list: Click on the Add to List... button. WilsonDisc for Windows adds the term to a list of search terms.

5. Choose additional terms as described above. You can look at the list of search terms by clicking on the View List... button.

6. When you have completed your search term list, click Search List to begin the search. WilsonDisc for Windows searches for each term as a separate search and then combines all of the terms with the or operator.

Note: If you change to another screen before searching for the terms on the list, WilsonDisc for Windows displays a message asking you what you want to do with the terms on the list. Click the button corresponding to the action you want to take: Search List, Delete List, Retain List, or View List.

Viewing Term Information

The Term Information area lists a term’s broader (more general) and narrower (more specific) terms. It may also include related terms.

You can look at details of any term listed in the Permuted Index as follows.

1. 1. Click on the desired term.

2. 2. Click the Term Information button. The Term Information area is displayed.
   From the Term Information section, you can add the term to a list for later searching or search the term.

Exploding Terms

When you explode a term, WilsonDisc for Windows searches for occurrences of the selected term plus all its narrower terms. Exploding a term retrieves information that might not be indexed to the selected term, but because it is indexed to a narrower term, is pertinent to your topic. WilsonDisc for Windows combines your term and all its narrower terms with the or operator.

In many databases, to explode a term, you simply click the Explode option button in Search Options and then click the Search Now button. If you want to add the term and all its narrower terms to a list to search later, click the Add to Search button instead of the Search Now button.

When you explode a term, WilsonDisc for Windows searches for occurrences of the selected term plus all its narrower terms. Exploding a term retrieves information that might not be indexed to the selected term, but because it is indexed to a narrower term, is pertinent to your topic. WilsonDisc for Windows combines your term and all its narrower terms with the or operator.

In many databases, to explode a term, you simply click the Explode option button in Search Options and then click the Search Now button. If you want to add the term and all its narrower terms to a list to search later, click the Add to Search button instead of the Search Now button.

Viewing the Selected Term List

You can view the list of terms you have selected for later searching by clicking View List... button to display the Selected Term List dialog box. The terms you selected appear in the Selected Terms list box.

At the Selected Term List dialog box, you can do the following:

• Clear terms from the list

• Search for the terms on the list

Clearing Selected Terms

You can clear the term list you’ve selected by choosing Clear Term List from the Edit menu at the Thesaurus screen.

You can also remove individual terms from the term list:

1. Click View List.... The Selected Term List dialog box with the terms you selected is displayed.

2. Click on a term you want to clear to highlight it.

3. Click Clear to delete the term.

4. If desired, repeat steps 2 through 3 to clear additional terms.

5. Click OK to close the Selected Term List dialog box and return to the Thesaurus.

6. Click OK to return to the Selected Term List box.

7. Click OK to return to the Thesaurus.

Resetting the Thesaurus

You can return the Thesaurus to start up condition by choosing Reset Thesaurus from the Options menu.
Resetting clears the Thesaurus History and the list of selected terms.

To reset the Thesaurus:

1. Choose Reset Thesaurus from the Options menu.

2. Click Yes to reset and return to the Thesaurus screen.

Using the Search History

Each of your search requests is numbered and listed in the Search History area of the search screen. You can reuse or clear any search from the Search History. You can also save your history and rerun a previously saved history.

Reusing Search Requests

Each of your search requests is numbered and listed in the Search History area. You can reuse a search request to combine it with a new search or to show, print, or save the records retrieved by it.

To combine a previous search with a new one:

1. Click on the number of the desired search request in the Search History area and press Retype.

2. Alternatively, you can type the number of the desired search request in the search: prompt.

3. Combine the search with additional terms using the available operators. For example, you could construct a search request, #1 and freud in au.

4. Click Search.

The Search History window reports the number of records retrieved by the search request and retrieved records are displayed in the retrieved records area.

To show, print, or save the results of a previous search:

1. 1. Double-click on the desired search in the Search History window. WilsonDisc for Windows performs the search on the currently selected database(s). The records from the search are displayed.

2. 2. Select Print Records or Save Records from the File menu.

You can also save all or part of your search history and run the search requests during later work sessions.

Clearing Search Requests

During a search session you can clear searches from the Search History area. For example, before you save a search history you can eliminate the unwanted search statements for clarity.

1. 1. Click the Clear... button in the Search History area, choose Clear Search History from the Edit menu, or press F12. WilsonDisc for Windows displays the Clear Search History dialog box.

2. 2. Indicate the searches you want to clear:
   Click All to clear the entire search.
   Click Searches to enter the numbers of the searches to clear. Use commas to separate individual search statements and hyphens to identify a range of search statements. For example, to clear search statements 2 and 3 and search statements 7 through 10, type 2,3,7-10.

3. 3. Click OK. WilsonDisc for Windows renumbers the remaining searches, if necessary. And, if you deleted a search that was referenced by another search, WilsonDisc for Windows replaces the number of the deleted search with the text of the search in the statement that references it. For example, if you had two searches, dog and #1 and rabies, and deleted the first search, WilsonDisc for Windows adjusts the second search statement to read (dog) and rabies.

Saving and Running a Search History

You can save a search history and later reuse it to search a disc update or another database.

Note: The Save History feature saves your entire search history. Use Clear Search History to delete unwanted search statements before saving.