BiblioLine General Help: Term Reports

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Term Reports

Contents

Other Help
Introduction
How Terms are Classified
Clicking on Terms within the Term Report
Using the Find Term Feature
Navigation within the Thesaurus
Inserting Thesaurus Terms into Your Search Strategy
Paging between Term Reports in the Tree Hierarchy

In addition to this online help, you may prefer to view other Thesaurus-related Help files listed below:

Help on Special Thesaurus Search-and-Retrieval Techniques and Operators
Word Permutations Index Help
Alphabetic Index (All Descriptors) Help
Base Words (Single Words Index) Help
Alphabetic Index (All Terms) Help
Beginning of Thesaurus (Tree Display) Help

Introduction

The Term Report provides complete information about a particular term. Following the scope note, if any, all of the immediately associated terms (one level narrower, broader, related, etc.) are listed as well as a tree hierarchy for the Broader Term if applicable.

How Terms are Classified

Use	The Use term has been chosen by the indexers as the preferred term. Generally, you'll want to search the Use term instead of the Used For term, especially if you are searching the Key Terms field. See Used For.
Used For	The active term is preferred to the Used For term. Generally, search the Use term instead. You may want to search both terms, however, if you are searching the Basic Search field. Since Basic Search includes fields other than Key Terms, such as Title and Abstract, the key term indexing (based on thesaurus terms) may be too limiting.
Broader and Narrower	Broader and Narrower refer to the comparative meaning of the terms. Language is broader than English, or Spanish, for example.
Related	Related terms have similar, but not identical meanings, e.g., linguistics and language. Related terms can also be "See" or "See Also" terms.
Synonyms	Terms with similar meanings are Synonyms, e.g., dog and canine. Generally, search the active term instead of the Synonym. You may want to search both terms if you are searching the Basic Field, however. Since Basic Search includes fields other than Key Terms, such as Title and Abstract, the key term indexing may be too limiting.
Abbreviation	An Abbreviation for the base term has been used in the database. You may wish to search the Abbreviation too.
Abbreviation For	The current term is an abbreviation for this term. You may wish to search the full term as well.
Language Equivalent	This usually is an alternate spelling, e.g., colour vs. color. Qualifier: Some thesauri include these subheadings, which modify the descriptors.
Equivalent Code	Alphanumeric Key Term codes can make typing a search easier. Use range operators or truncation to substitute for several terms.

Clicking on Terms within the Term Report

Clicking on Base Words displays a List of Permutations for the words.

Clicking on the Main Term displays a Tree Display for that term.

Clicking on any of the Associated Terms (Used For, Broader Terms, Narrower Terms, Related Terms, etc.) displays their respective Term Reports.

Using the Find Term Feature

Use the Find Term feature located at the bottom of the Term Report to access term report for a specific term. Just type the term you are looking for in the text box provided and click on the Find Term button

.

If the term entered is a descriptor, you will be taken to its Term Report.
If the term entered is a non-descriptor or not in the thesaurus, you will be taken to a list of permutations for the matching term or closest alphabetical match in the Word Permutations Index.
If the term entered is a plural, singular or international spelling variant of a descriptor used in the Thesaurus, you will be taken to the list of permutations for the matching term or closest alphabetical match in the Word Permutations Index.

If a multi-word term is entered, the information displayed will be based on the first word.

Navigation within the Thesaurus

To move to the Beginning of Thesaurus (Tree Display) or to view Term Report or to switch between various indices within the Thesaurus, use the links provided under the Browse Thesaurus Options heading at the bottom of the screen.

Word Permutations Index: This alphabetical index provides access to a list of permutations for single words of interest. Clicking on terms in the Word Permutations Index will take you to their Term Reports.

Term Reports: Term report helps you to see how a term is treated in the thesaurus and used in the database. You can find here broader term, narrower terms, related terms, use and used for terms, along with a scope note wherever necessary. Clicking on terms in the Term Report will take you to their respective Term Reports.

Alphabetic Index (All Descriptors): Provides a list of only the descriptors (just the preferred terms) within the Thesaurus. Use descriptors in your search to retrieve exactly the records you want.

Base Words (Single Words Index): This is a word by word, alphabetical list of all single words which make up the descriptors found in the thesaurus. Clicking on a particular word in the Base Words (Single Words Index) will take you to all its occurrences in the Word Permutations Index.

Alphabetic Index (All Terms): Provides a list of all the terms (descriptors and non-descriptors) in the thesaurus. In other words, this index includes both preferred and non-preferred terms.

Beginning of Thesaurus (Tree Display): Click on this link to access the beginning of the Thesaurus' Tree Display.

Inserting Thesaurus Terms into your Search Strategy

Terms can be added to search strategies from the Thesaurus. Just mark the terms you want to insert by clicking into the check boxes located to the left of the thesaurus terms. Use the following buttons to insert the terms into your strategy.

Click on the Add to Search Field button

to add marked thesaurus terms to your search strategy.

Click on the Overwrite Search Field button

to replace search terms with marked thesaurus terms.

The default Boolean search operator applied when more than one term is added to your search strategy is or.

Paging between Term Reports in the Tree Hierarchy

Use the Previous Term and Next Term links located at the bottom of the screen to display the Term Reports for the previous and next terms in the tree hierarchy respectively.