VII. WilsonWeb Thesaurus

Searching in the Thesaurus

Some databases include a thesaurus, a list of controlled vocabulary used to standardize the indexing in the database. This enables you to select and search for synonyms, related terms, and preferred terms, and also to see descriptions of the terms. And, if the database's thesaurus is arranged hierarchically, you can select more general (broader) and more specific (narrower) terms.

To look up a thesaurus term:

1. If necessary, click Thesaurus on the button bar.

2. Browse the list of terms:
   Type a subject in the Term: text entry area and click Jump, or
   Scroll through the terms on the current page, or
   Click Previous or Next to show the previous or next range of subject terms. (You can change the number of terms WilsonWeb displays per page by selecting a number from the Previous/Next Terms drop-down list.)

To get information about a term:

Click on any linked term. WilsonWeb displays the Thesaurus Term page, which provides information about the current term, such as a definition, related terms, previously used indexing terms, and broader and narrower terms. The information provided depends upon the database you are searching.

To search for a term:

1. Click Search to search for just the current term.

2. Click Explode to search for the term as well as any of its narrower terms. (WilsonWeb will combine the terms with the or operator.)

If the Thesaurus includes subheadings, WilsonWeb searches for all subheadings by default. To change the subheadings, scroll down to the Subheadings list and select the ones you want to apply. (You can use the multiple-selection method supported by your browser/platform, such as Ctrl+Click and Shift+Click in Windows.)