DIALOGTRAINING SEMINAR Allison Evatt Graduate Education Program © 2007 The Dialog Corporation Introduction to DIALOG Featuring DialogClassic

DIALOG TRAINING SEMINAR

Allison Evatt Graduate Education Program

© 2007 The Dialog Corporation

Introduction to DIALOG

Featuring DialogClassic

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Agenda

• Introduction to DIALOG

• Planning and Conducting the Search

• Modifying and Enhancing a Search– Basic Index

– Additional Indexes

– The EXPAND Command

• Selecting a Database– Database Selection Checklist

– Dialog Database Catalog

– DIALINDEX

– Dialog Bluesheets

– Online Practice

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Objectives

• Learn the five basic commands

• Execute a search online

• Select an appropriate database

• Modify a search using DIALOG documentation

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Planning the Search

Search Topic

The population of the world is aging. Many people are trying to improve their longevity and quality of life with controversial medical treatments and dietary supplements. One such treatment is the taking of hormone supplements to combat the effects of aging. Find articles written for the layperson that discuss the use of hormones in anti-aging therapies.

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Planning the Search – Search Worksheet

Step 1: Identify Search Terms

• Write the topic on the search worksheet

• Enter the database(s) selected on the worksheet

• Write each concept and appropriate synonyms in each column of the worksheet

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Planning the Search – Learning Check

Search Worksheet

Topic: Find articles written for the layperson that discuss the use of hormones in anti-aging therapies.

Databases: Gale Group Health and Wellness Database (File 149)

Important Ideas

Concept 1 Concept 2 Concept 3

anti-aging hormone treatment antiaging therapy

AND AND

OR

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Planning the Search - Truncation

Step 2: Search Word Variants (Truncation)

• Use truncation for words with different endings

• Place a ? at the end of the word stem

Example: pollut? Searches: pollute polluting pollutes

pollution pollutants

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Search Worksheet



Important Ideas


anti-aging hormon? treatment?antiaging therap?

AND AND

OR

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Planning the Search – Proximity Connectors

Step 3: Use proximity connectors

• Stop words– Not searchable on Dialog

– Stop words are: AND, BY, TO, FROM, OF, WITH, AN, FOR, THE

– Proximity connectors can take the place of stop words

• Search phrases

• Replace internal punctuation

• Specify order and adjacency of search terms

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WITH

(W) Words must be adjacent and in the order specified

Note: you may omit the W and just use the parentheses ()

Examples: S bugs(w)bunny

S bugs()bunny

Both retrieve Bugs Bunny

(DIALOG is not case sensitive)

(W#) Up to X-number of words in between search terms, in

the same order

Example: S asthma(5w)therapy?

Retrieves: asthma can be treated with therapy

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NEAR

(N) Words must be adjacent but can be in any order

Example: S game?(n)board?

Retrieves: game boards or board games

(N#) Up to X-number of words in between search terms, in

any order

Example: S asthma?(4n)therapy?

Retrieves: therapy in stable, chronic asthmatic patients or

asthma can be treated with therapy

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SAME

(S) Use (S) to restrict words to the same paragraph or subfield

LINK

(L) Use (L) to link headings and subheadings in the descriptor field

Example: aspirin(L)adverse effects

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Connector Example Searches

(W) real(w)estate real estate

(X) fiber?(n)optic? fiber opticsoptical fibers

(#W), (#N) cost(1n)living cost of livinggone(2w)wind gone with the wind

(S) solar(s)heat solar in the same paragraph with heat

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Planning the Search – Logical Operators

Step 4: Use logical operators

• Logical operators link concepts (Boolean)

• AND – connects concepts when both or all must be present– telecommut? and productivit?

– market(5n)share and tennis(w)equipment

• OR – groups synonymous terms when at least one must be present– cat or feline

– ultraviolet or uv or ultra(w)violet

– Remember: “OR IS MORE”

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Search Worksheet



Important Ideas


anti(w)aging hormon? treatment?antiaging therap?

AND AND

OR

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Conducting the Search – Basic Commands

• BEGIN – enter a database– Begin 47

– B 47

– B 9, 16, 148

• SELECT – choose search terms– Select jury

– S merge or acqui?

• TYPE – display records

• DISPLAY SETS – show search history– DS

• LOGOFF – disconnects from Dialog and displays a cost estimate of the search session

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Displaying Results – The TYPE Command

The TYPE Command

Set Number Format Range of Records

s1 / 6 / 1-3

Examples: t s1/6/1-3

t s1/6/1-3,5,10

t s2/3/all

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Displaying Results – Formats

• Selected Format Options– Format 6 or FREE – titles

– Format 8 or SHORT – titles and descriptors

– Format 3 or MEDIUM – bibliographic

– Format 9 or FULL – complete record

– Format K or KWIC – keywords in context of the article

• Check the Bluesheet for formats for each database

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Putting the Search Together

• Building blocks: step by step, then combine all sets together?s threat or hazard

?s radon or asbestos

?s s1 and s2

• Nesting: all search terms in one statement?s (threat or hazard) and (radon or asbestos)

• Both achieve the same result – Building blocks gives you more flexibility.

– Nesting is shorter but leaves little room for error. Useful if you plan to save the search strategy to run again later.

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Putting the Search Together – Learning Check

Search Worksheet Topic: Find articles written for the layperson that discuss the use of hormones in anti-aging-

therapies. Databases: Gale Group Health and Wellness Database (File 149) Important Ideas S1 S2 S3 Commands to Enter: B 149 S anti(w)aging or antiaging S hormon? S treatment? or therap? S s1 and s2 and s3 T s4/6/1-5

Concept 1 Concept 2 Concept 3 anti(w)aging hormon? treatment? antiaging therap?

AND AND

OR

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Conducting the Search

Search Commands

?begin 149

?select anti(w)aging or antiaging

?select hormon?

?select therap? or treatment?

?s s1 and s2 and s3

?t s4/6/1-5

?s s1 (s) s2 (s) s3 (ONE WAY TO LIMIT THE SEARCH)

?ds

?t s5/9/2 (TO DISPLAY A FULLTEXT RECORD)

?logoff

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Planning and Conducting the Search

Summary

• Use synonyms to identify alternate search terms

• Employ truncation to search for words that may have different endings

• Use proximity connectors to connect words

• Use logical operators (AND, OR) to link search terms together

• Put the search strategy together

• View records by using the appropriate format

• TYPE and/or SAVE the results (PRINT for commercial accounts)

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Modifying and Enhancing a Search – Basic Index

• Basic Index– Search subject-related information

– Use a suffix to limit the search to a particular field.

– Common suffixes:

• /ti s skin/ti Searches title field

s skin(n)cancer/ti

• /de s melanoma/de Searches descriptor field

s human(2w)hormone?/ti,de

• /co s oracle/co Searches company name s s1/co field

• /lp s global()warming/lp Searches lead paragraph

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Basic Index

• Basic index fields are word-indexed– Each word is searched as a separate term

– To search phrases, use proximity connectors

– Remember to replace embedded punctuation with a proximity connector

• Examples:– global(w)warming

– wal()mart

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Modifying and Enhancing a Search – Additional Indexes

• Additional Indexes – Non-subject related information

– Use two-character codes before the search term (PY=)

– Common Prefixes:

• PY=publication year s py=2007

s py=2005:2007

• PD=publication date s pd=20070110

• AU=author name s au=koop, c?

s au=bowen, ezra

• JN=journal name s jn=popular mechanics

s jn=newsweek

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Additional Indexes

• Most fields are phrase-indexed

• Must enter search term exactly as listed in the database– Do not use proximity connectors

• Use EXPAND to verify correct spelling

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Modifying and Enhancing a Search – Using EXPAND

The EXPAND Command

• Use EXPAND to verify spelling and view alphabetically similar entries

• Index shows how a name is listed and the number of records that contain the name

• Step 1: EXPAND using prefix + name– Example: e au=perls

• Step 2: SELECT E numbers– Example: s e3

s e3:e6

s e3 or e7

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?e au=perls t

Ref Items Index-termE1 1 AU=PERLS HE2 2 AU=PERLS KBE3 24 *AU=PERLS TE4 25 AU=PERLS TTE5 5 AU=PERLSMAN EE6 3 AU=PERLSMAN ME7 1 AU=PERLSON BDE8 2 AU=PERLSON LNE9 2 AU=PERLSTADT HE10 1 AU=PERLSTADT MAE11 2 AU=PERLSTEIN DE12 1 AU=PERLSTEIN DA

Enter P or PAGE for more

EXPAND using the prefix AU= and the author’s name.

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?s e3:e4 S1 15 AU='PERLS T':AU='PERLS TT'

?s 100 or one(w)hundred 436765 100 1280614 ONE 58036 HUNDRED 27985 ONE(W)HUNDRED S2 461389 100 OR ONE(W)HUNDRED

?s py=2002 S3 983731 PY=2002

?s s1 and s2 and s3 15 S1 461389 S2 983731 S3 S4 4 S1 AND S2 AND S3

?t s4/6,k/all

SELECT appropriate E numbers

Narrow the search using keywords and a publication year.

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Selecting a Database – Dialog Bluesheets

• Check the Dialog Bluesheets– Description (Front page)

– Subject coverage

– Sample record

– Format options

– Search options

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Selecting a Database – Selection Tools

• Database Selection Checklist– What is the general subject?

– What is the perspective of the question?

– How much information is desirable?

– What type of database is needed?

• Dialog Database Catalog– Database descriptions

– Database by type

• Bibliographic

• Complete text

• Directory

• Numeric

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Selecting a Database - DIALINDEX

• Central index to most of the Dialog databases

• Types of categories– Supercategories (ALLSCIENCE)

– OneSearch subject categories (BIOSCI, PRODUCTS)

– User-defined categories (NEWS, 9,15)

• Uses– Identify relevant databases

– Test effectiveness of search strategy

– Search large categories for a specific piece of information

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Selecting a Database – DIALINDEX

DIALINDEX CommandsB 411 Open DIALINDEX

SF PAPERS Choose files

S <search terms> Enter search terms

SAVE TEMP Save search strategy

RANK FILES Reorder database list with the largestnumber at top

B <databases> Begin N numbers or database numbers

EXS Execute search

RD Remove duplicates

T s2/3/1 from each Display records from each file

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Wrap Up – Review of Commands

• Basic Commands– BEGIN begin 9

– EXPAND expand co=microsoft

– SELECT select bioengineer? and food

– TYPE type s1/6/1-5,8

– LOGOFF logoff

• Formats

– Common Formats

• Format 6 – titles

• Format 8 – descriptors

• Format 3 – bibliographic

• Format 9 – complete record

• Format K – keywords in context

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• Truncation– S lemon? Retrieves lemon, lemons, lemonade

• Set history– DISPLAY SETS or DS

• Proximity connectors– (W) s real(w)estate

– (N) s game(n)board?

– (#W) s gone(2w)wind

– (#N) s market(5n)share

– (S) s s1(s)s2

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• Logical Operators– AND s skelly and game? – OR s game? or toy?

• Saving Searches– Save temp– EXS

• CURRENT– B 16 current

• Qualifiers– Suffixes s board(n)game?/ti

s cancer/ti,de– Prefixes s co=microsoft?

s py=2003

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• DIALINDEX Commands– Begin DIALINDEX b 411

– Set Files SF papers

– Select <keywords> s solar and mars

– Save temp save temp

– Rank files rf

– Begin <databases> b N1:N3

– Execute steps exs

– Remove duplicates rd

– Type t s2/6,k/1 from each

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Wrap Up – Other Training Tools

• DialogClassicWeb – http://www.dialogclassic.com

– Links to training and support materials

• Practice– ONTAP databases

– training.dialog.com/sem_info/courses/#ontap

• Other Training Sessions– http://training.dialog.com for schedule of web-based training

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Wrap Up

Thank you!

[email protected]

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Setting Up a Dialog Alert

• What is an Alert?– Current awareness service allowing a search to be run automatically

whenever new records are added to a database

– Available for most regularly updated databases

– Multifile Alerts available

– Delivery options

• Postal mail

• E-mail

• Fax

Documents

DIALOGTRAINING SEMINAR Allison Evatt Graduate Education Program © 2007 The Dialog Corporation Introduction to DIALOG Featuring DialogClassic