Support : Publications : Chronolog Archives : July/August 2001

Search Solution:
Searching a Technical Topic? Try the Database Finding Tool on DataStarWeb

Technology is the focus of more than half of the databases on Dialog and DataStar. Such comprehensive coverage of virtually any technical topic means that you have a wealth of resources to choose from. Knowing exactly which database to search, however, can be a challenge unless you first use the database finding tools. Doing a preliminary scan of available databases will reveal exactly which ones have the most information on your topic, and how many results your search strategy will produce. You'll save time and money by searching efficiently. In this article, we will look at using the database finding tool — DataStar's CROSSEARCH.

The topic of interest concerns the use of flywheel technology as an alternative to the more familiar power storage device, the battery. We may be tempted to resort to the usual engineering or energy databases, but using the database finding tool first is guaranteed to uncover some unfamiliar and unexpected resources. We can then choose to search just those databases that have the most records, or those that contain the type of data we are interested in (for example, technical reports or patents or conference papers).

DataStarWeb Database Finder/CROSSEARCH

The main DataStarWeb screen shows the user a subject hierarchy. Rather than make a choice from the hierarchy, instead click the "Find Database" icon (Figure 1)

  Figure 1

The Database Finder screen then appears (Figure 2). Each subject area appears as a hyperlink.

We can click the "Science & Technology" category and then enter our search on the Database Finder for Science & Technology CROSSEARCH screen (Figure 3). The search statement is entered in the box provided and then the CROSSEARCH button is clicked to scan all the databases in the Science & Technology category. The search strategy for our topic uses truncation (the $ character) and the proximity operator for adjacency (ADJ), as well as the Boolean operators AND and OR.

flywheel$ and ((power or energy) adj storage or batter$)

Results of the search are presented for each database in ranked order starting with the database that contains the most matching records. CROSSEARCH results report only on those databases with hits.

Now that you know which databases have the most information you can click the database name to find out more about it. You can skip this step and select the databases you want to search by clicking in the box next to the database name. From this point on, all of the search techniques of DataStarWeb are available for completing the search using the Easy or Advanced Search options.

There are many other tools available for finding the right database in both Dialog and DataStar. Future Search Solutions will review these tools. Don't forget, the most basic database finding tool is still Dialog's 2001 Worldwide Database Catalog, available in print and online at http://support.dialog.com/publications/dbcat/.

top