Lesson 3-7 - Summary: Searching DialogWeb for the Life Sciences Professional

Using Dialog Search Commands Summary

In Lesson 3 we reviewed the basic commands necessary to conduct a Dialog search.

Here is a summary of the basic commands we just learned:

Command	Example	When to Use It
BEGIN B	begin 155 b 155 b 155,72 current b medicine	Use BEGIN with a file number to specify the database(s) to be searched. Use CURRENT to restrict a search to the current year plus previous year in the database specified.
SELECT S	select antidepressant? s antidepressant? s anorexia? or bulimia? s s1 and s2	Use SELECT to create a set of records (e.g., s1) that contains the specified terms.

Command

Example

When to Use It

BEGIN
B

begin 155
b 155
b 155,72 current
b medicine

Use BEGIN with a file number to specify the database(s) to be searched.
Use CURRENT to restrict a search to the current year plus previous year in the database specified.

SELECT
S

select antidepressant?
s antidepressant?
s anorexia? or bulimia?
s s1 and s2

Use SELECT to create a set of records (e.g., s1) that contains the specified terms.

We also conducted a search using a search strategy containing synonyms, truncation, proximity connectors, and logical operators. We viewed what this search would look like conducted in DialogWeb.

This search process is one that we will continue to follow as we perform more searches on DialogWeb.

If you have answered the questions in Exercise 3 and checked your answers, go to Lesson 4.

3-7

Learn More #3: Logical Operators:

The OR operator is used to retrieve terms that are synonyms or equivalents. For example, the retrieval of INTERNET OR WORLD(w)WIDE(w)WEB consists of all records containing one or both of these terms. OR increases the number of records retrieved-in other words, with OR you always get mORe. If more than one of the terms occurs within a given record, the retrieved set includes the record only once.

Example:

select protect? OR shield?
The AND operator retrieves records where two or more search terms or groups of search terms occur in the same record. SELECT PROFIT(W)SHARING AND PRODUCTIVITY retrieves only those records containing all of these words. AND decreases the number of records retrieved since it requires each term to be present for retrieval.

Example:

select japan AND export?

select market(5n)share AND long(w)distance(w)service
The NOT operator prevents records that include unacceptable or irrelevant search terms from being retrieved. The expression PROFIT(w)SHARING NOT DEFERRED(w)PAYOUT(w)PLAN retrieves records that contain the term PROFIT SHARING but excludes those records that also contain the term DEFERRED PAYOUT PLAN.

Example:

select eclipse? not solar

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