Track Down Industry R&D and Forecasts?

TOPIC: When searchers seek good, solid authoritative sources on economics, accounting, banking, management principles, and the whole range of essential business topics, they rely on ABI/INFORM® (File 15). One of the first databases on Dialog, ABI/INFORM provides in-depth analysis not only of human resources issues, commerce and finance, corporate structure and organization, but unparalleled examinations of industries, manufacturing, products and processes as well. The file’s strong points include its excellent indexing and its record structure that combines keyword searching with relevancy. By searching keywords in the Title, Descriptor or Abstract (TI,DE,AB) fields, you can hone in on industry terms well-placed in the article, virtually ensuring the article is about those topics. Alternatively, you can use Classification Names (CN=) or Classification Codes (CC=) to focus on broad industry names, such as “electric, water and gas utilities,” or a concept such as “research & development,” or article treatment, such as “statistical data” or “guidelines”—managerial how-tos. ABI/INFORM also allows for searching North American Industry Classification (NAICS) Codes (NC=) or Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) Codes (SC=), as well as D-U-N-S Numbers (DN=).

Related files include Business & Management Practices® (File 13), Gale Group Management Contents® (File 75), and Wall Street Journal Abstracts (File 475). See the Bluesheets for details regarding indexing and search tips.

This example shows how to use keywords and indexing in ABI/INFORM to retrieve articles on research and development and forecasts in the energy industry.

COMMAND SUMMARY

BEGIN 15
SELECT (ENERGY OR FUEL? OR GAS?? OR SOLAR? OR ALTERNATIVE(W)ENERGY)/TI,DE,AB
VISUAL EXPAND CN=RESEARCH
Check appropriate entries and click Select
SELECT (FORECAST? OR TREND? OR OUTLOOK? OR PERSPECTIVE? OR PREDICT?)/TI,DE,AB
SELECT S1 AND S2 AND S3
SELECT S4/2007:2008
TYPE S6/8,K/1-10
Click Links > Display > Full Record

HOW TO...

1. BEGIN File 15 to search ABI/INFORM. 2. SELECT keyword terms. Since you wish to restrict each of the terms to the Title (/TI), Descriptor (/DE) OR the Abstract (/AB) fields, enclose the search string in parentheses before the slash and fields.
3. VISUAL EXPAND a Classification Name (CN=). 4. Check the appropriate entry and then click the Select button.
5. SELECT terms relating to forecasts or trends. Restrict to the Title, Descriptor OR Abstract (/TI, DE, AB) fields. 6. Combine the results from Search Sets 1,2 and 3 (S1 AND S2 AND S3). 7. Narrow the search to a specific range of publication years. The colon acts as OR.
8. TYPE a few records in Formats 8,K to browse titles, publication dates, descriptors, word counts and Keywords in Context (KWIC, K). Note: Some records have been omitted from this display. To select the appropriate record number, look at the range of records in the TYPE command (e.g., 5/8,k/2).
5. To see a complete record, click Links > Display > Type Full Record.
Note: Portions of the record are omitted from this display.

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Stock #: 53829; Last modified: 14 Sep 2011

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