Slide 1
Welcome to Using the EXPAND command on Dialog. This short module will illustrate why you should use the powerful EXPAND command, and provide several examples of its different uses. This module assumes that you are familiar with how to conduct a basic search on Dialog. It may also serve as a refresher on using EXPAND or show you additional uses for EXPAND that may be new to you and may help you get to the right answers faster. The content found in Dialog is available through many interfaces. This module uses the DialogClassic Web interface to illustrate the EXPAND command.
Slide 2
First, we will describe the EXPAND command, including why it is an important search tool. Then, we will conduct two searches to illustrate uses of the EXPAND command. First, we'll use EXPAND in the Additional Indexes to find an author who published in a specific journal, and second, we'll use EXPAND to find terms in a medical database with an online thesaurus. Finally, we'll summarize and suggest other training tools that might be helpful to you.
Slide 3
The EXPAND command is one of the most valuable commands available, particularly when you are unsure how a particular term might be listed in a database. EXPAND works like a window into a database: it lets you see exactly how a term (word, phrase, author, journal, etc.) is indexed, and lets you SELECT your term directly out of the index. It can also show you alternate terms that you may not have considered. And, when you are searching a number of alphabetically related terms it can reduce the amount of time needed to enter all of the terms.
Slide 4
Each database on Dialog is unique. Databases can be created by different database producers and while Dialog enables you to search all content with a common search language; nonetheless, names, in particular, may be entered into the database differently. For example, an author name may be entered last name; then first name. It may be last name, first initial. It may be last name comma first name. To collect all of these variations, the EXPAND command is invaluable. EXPAND, abbreviated E, displays the portion of the database index in which a term appears, thus showing you all possible ways a word or phrase may have been listed in the database, how many records contain the name and the names that are alphabetically close to it. A list of 50 entries displays at once.
EXPAND can be used with words or prefix codes such as AU= for author, JN=for journal or CO= for company name. Some databases have online thesauri; and you can EXPAND a word to see other related words that might be important to your search. EXPAND can even be used in up to 60 databases to let you scan subject terms or index entries in all these files at once.
Now that you know a bit about the EXPAND command, we'll take a look at a couple of examples that illustrate its different uses.
Slide 5
This first example shows how to use EXPAND in Dialog's additional indexes. The additional indexes contain all non-subject terms, such as an author name, a named person, a company name and much more. These parts of the database are mostly phrase-indexed, meaning that the words or phrases you enter must match exactly the way they are listed in the database. As I mentioned earlier, names may be listed in more than one way; therefore, the EXPAND command is used regularly when searching the Additional Indexes. Dialog Bluesheets help by providing examples of non-subject concepts for a particular database. You will also notice that no proximity connectors like (w) or (n) are needed when searching for phrases in the Additional Indexes as they are when we search subject terms in the Basic Index. We'll see how this works next.
Slide 6
Some examples illustrate how to use the EXPAND command. When searching the additional indexes, a two-letter field prefix code such as JN for journal is used followed by the equal sign and the name you are looking for. So, for example, if you want to find articles from the New York Times, the search you would enter is EXPAND or E JN= for journal name followed by the journal New York Times. You may also want to use The before new york times as the name may be entered in the database in various ways. Notice that there are no proximity connectors between New York Times.
Slide 7
Now let's take a look at this search. We will use the DialogClassic Web interface for our searches in this module. Logon to DialogClassic Web, at http://www.dialogclassic.com. Then enter your Dialog User ID and password and click the Log in button.
Slide 8
Once you enter your User ID and password, you will see the screen shown here. At the top of the screen the Retrieve Buffer shows the commands you have executed. At the bottom of the screen is the Type-Ahead buffer, in which you enter your search commands. You can enter your commands one at a time or prior to logging on to Dialog. Note that at the bottom of the Type-Ahead buffer the Status Bar shows you the amount of time you have been connected to Dialog and any commands that have yet to be executed.
At the top right side of the screen is the Databases pane. When you BEGIN in a database you will see the name of the database you have selected in the Databases pane. Clicking the link shows the Bluesheet for that database. The session pane contains a list of all commands you enter during your search.
Now let's try a search using EXPAND.
Slide 9
In our first example we will use EXPAND in the Additional Indexes to find articles by Will Hadfield, published in the journal Middle East Economic Digest. We'll select a business and industry database called Gale Group Trade & Industry Database (File 148). File 148 is a multi-industry database covering major industries worldwide. We'll follow the command summary listed here to conduct our search.
Slide 10
For this search we will use what Dialog calls the BEST technique. BEGIN, EXPAND, SELECT and TYPE. To begin our search, we'll type BEGIN or B in the type-ahead buffer followed by the number 148, the number of the Trade & Industry database.
Next, we'll use the EXPAND command to see how the name of the author is entered in this database. We type EXPAND or E, the two-letter prefix for Author (AU), the equal sign and the last name of the author Hadfield. Since there may be more than one Hadfield, we'll add a comma and the first initial W. It's a good idea to check the Bluesheet for the database to see an example of how a name is entered, for instance, whether a comma is used between first and last names. Remember, author indexing may not be the same in each database. You can click the Bluesheet right from DialogClassic Web when you are in the database.
A list of E numbers displays alphabetically near the part of the index with Hadfield and W. You will also see the number of records for each entry and the spelling of the indexed term. E3 contains the entry as you entered it. Notice that there are 0 entries for Hadfield, W. However, E4, E5 and E6 contain entries for Will Hadfield. As you can see in E6, an entry has been entered incorrectly. This can happen, and without EXPAND we would have missed that record.
In the next step we'll use the SELECT or S command to select the appropriate entries: e4, e5 and e6. We can use a colon to show a range of records (e4:e6) or connect each E number with the OR connector (E4 or e5 or e6). In this database we have selected 175 records that are written by Will Hadfield.
Slide 11
Now we want to add the journal Middle East Economic Digest to our search to obtain only those records that Will Hadfield wrote for this journal. We follow the same steps as with the author using EXPAND, the two-letter prefix for journal JN, the equal sign and the name of the journal. Notice that we do not have any connectors between the words of the journal name.
E3 shows the way we entered the journal name. Notice, however, that there are 0 records listed. That means that this is not the way the journal name is entered in the database. We now need to try some other spelling. Often, journal names are abbreviated or acronyms are used. Let's try that next.
Slide 12
We'll try MEED using the first letters of each name in the journal title Middle East Economic Digest with the search EXPAND JN=MEED. Again, entry 3 shows no records. However, note E4. This journal uses the acronym before the journal name. Without EXPAND we may never have found this one.
Now, SELECT or S E4 to retrieve all records for this journal in the Trade & Industry database.
Slide 13
Now we combine the set of records S1 with the author names and S2 with the journal names to create S3 with records written by Will Hadfield in MEED. We have narrowed the search to 42 records.To view the records we use the TYPE command which contains the set# we want to see, the format, and the number of records. For this example, we use TYPE or T S3 with Format 3 so we can see the author and journal names and a couple of records. It reads T S3/3/1-3. Note the author in the first record shown here is Will Hadfield and the journal MEED Middle East Economic Digest. EXPANDing in the Additional Indexes is very useful for any names, such as authors, companies, journals, named persons, document types and many more. Each Bluesheet provides a listing of the Additional Indexes.
Slide 14
You can also use EXPAND to view the contents of an online thesaurus by entering EXPAND followed by the search term of interest. Our second example will show EXPANDing in the thesaurus of a database. Approximately 60 databases contain online thesauri of search terms. MEDLINE (File 155) provides a good example of a database with an online thesaurus. We'll again follow the command summary listed for this next search.
Slide 15
Once we BEGIN 155 to enter the MEDLINE database, we EXPAND our search terms, in this example, medical waste disposal. If thesaurus terms appear in the EXPAND display, an extra column labeled "RT" (Related Terms) is shown. Looking at the RT column we see that there are 7 related terms for medical waste disposal listed in the online thesaurus. Notice also that MEDLINE provides indexing for particular aspects of medical waste disposal, such as economics (E4) or ethics (E5). To view the related terms for an entry, enter a second EXPAND command followed by the E number of the entry, in this example EXPAND E3.
Slide 16
The resulting display is similar to an EXPAND display, but the entry numbers begin with R to show that the terms in the list are all related.
By EXPANDing E3 we now see a list of the 7 related terms for medical waste disposal. From this list we can SELECT an R number of interest or look at some of the related terms, for example, R7 for medical waste. Also, notice the third column. The Type column shows the relationships of the terms. X refers to cross-referenced terms, B for Broader terms than Medical Waste Disposal and N for Narrower terms, not shown in this display. Let's see what happens if we EXPAND the R number R7. Note that as a shortcut you can enter EXPAND, plus the search terms in parentheses to go directly to this screen.
Slide 17
The resulting display shows the related terms for R7 (now R1) for medical waste. Notice in the Type column there are two Narrower terms and one R or Related term. EXPANDing in the online thesaurus is a good method to use to find terms that may be useful in your search.
Slide 18
To summarize, here are some tips as you begin using EXPAND:
Slide 19
Slide 20
This completes our demonstration of the EXPAND command. Thank you for your interest in Dialog. Keep checking with us for other training opportunities that are added regularly.