1. BEGIN 411, DIALINDEX, an index to most of the databases on Dialog.

2. In the Set Files box, enter ENG for the Engineering category.

3. In the Select box enter your keywords all in one statement.

Note that if AND and OR operators occur in the same search statement you must put the ORed terms in parentheses.

Also remember to put the (w) or () connector between search terms.

Limited truncation is used after "system? ?" to retrieve only one extra letter (e.g., systems).

4. Click Run Search.

Note: To narrow this search further in DIALINDEX, limit the GPS search strategy to /TI,DE.

5. To reorder the file list with the databases containing the most records at the top of the list in descending order, click the "Hits" header twice.

6. Check the boxes for the databases you want to search and click Begin Hits to conduct the search.

The search is run in the four databases selected and Set 1 (S1) is created.

7. Narrow the search using keywords or other limits such as a date range. Note the colon is used to designate range.

8. When searching more than one database, it is a good idea to remove duplicate records (RD).

9. TYPE out a record using Format 8 to see descriptors (additional keywords) and the K format, which shows a window of 30 words around your search terms.

FROM EACH designates one record from each database.

Notice these records are all conference papers.

To select the appropriate record number, look at the range of records in the TYPE command (e.g. 5/8,k/889 (item 1 from File 65).

Note: Some records have been omitted from this display.