Quick Links:

Author - Title - Keyword - Truncation - Advanced - Search Display

• Each entry box on the search form denotes a specific index. Type your term in upper or lower case in the appropriate entry box (search field).

• Due to some inconsistencies with the catalogue records you should always use the truncation symbol <@>
  See more by clicking on "Truncation" above.

• The default operator between fields is AND. A search on the authors last name <daly@> and title <common> will find all records containing <daly@> in the author field <common> in the title field.

• The default operation within fields/data boxes is also AND. A search on <china trade> in the title field will find all records containing CHINA and TRADE in the Title. For an OR search, select the "Any of these words" option.

Name Searching (Authors and Institutions)

Use this search to find materials by individual authors, editors, creators, etc. Name searches can also be used to find works by authors who may not be individuals (government body, corporate author, conference, etc.). Search limits are not available for Name Browse searches. Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) do not function in this field.

Search Tips:

• Remember that due to some inconsistencies with the catalogue records you should always use the truncations symbol after the author's last name <@>

• Omit initial articles (a, an, the, das, el, la, etc.) in any language.

• Always omit initial punctuation in any language (e.g., quotation marks). Also, omit intervening commas, periods, apostrophes, and most other punctuation (hyphens should be retained).

• Personal author/creator

• • Enter the author/creator's last name followed by the first name if known: mitchell margaret

  • If the spelling of the last name is uncertain, enter as much as you know: Abord (omit first names, titles of nobility, etc.) followed by the truncation symbol @. Eg. Abord@

  • Retain the hyphen in a hyphenated name: Arden-Clarke.

HINT

You can narrow or broaden your author search. For example, a search for Herman Daly's works can be limited to those published in a specific year or with a word in the Keyword or Title entry box.

Example:
Author: daly@
Keyword: trade

Institution

To search using the name of an institution, it is first necessary to find its 6 digit code by using the Institution Code Search.

Institution Code Searching

At the SD-Cite search page, click on <Search> for an Institution Code after the box for Institution Code. In the Institution Code search boxes, enter the name or acronym of the Institution.

• As with individual authors, search enough of the name to distinguish it

• In some instances, department is abbreviated to dept; search using both forms to ensure that all relevant records are retrieved.

• Search hierarchical names in full descending order: united states environmental protection agency.

• Make note or cut and copy (right click) the 6 digit Institution Code, using the link return to the Catalogue Search Page and paste it into the appropriate box.

HINT

Acronyms may be inconsistent so it is always best to spell out an organization name, or words in the name, whenever possible.

Example: USEPA produces no entry .
EPA produces the correct entry
united AND protection produces the correct entry

HINT

Organization web sites can be found by entering www in the Title entry box and the name of the organization in the Institution entry box.

Title Searching

A Title search retrieves materials by title in the exact word order of the search. Use this search when the title of the work is known. You can search for "All of these works" (Boolean operator AND) or "Any of these words" (Boolean operator OR).

Title search examples:

Search Tips:

• Always omit initial articles (a, an, the, das, el, la, etc.) in any language.

• Always omit initial punctuation in any language (e.g., quotation marks, ¿). Also, omit intervening commas, periods, apostrophes, and most other punctuation (hyphens should be retained).

• If searching the full title does not produce satisfactory results, enter only the first few words of the title.

• Consider alternate forms of title words:

  • initials, acronyms, abbreviations (e.g., us or united states)

  • numbers (e.g., 10 or ten)

  • one word or two (e.g., healthcare or health care)

  • spelling variations (e.g., color or colour)

  • similar concepts (e.g., british or english)

  • word variations (e.g., email or e-mail)

HINT

When the exact title word order is not known, try using the Keyword search. Use the words of the title you do know with Boolean operators (e.g., yearbook AND anthropology).

Keyword Searching

This is a general search. Use this search by entering topic specific words or phrases.

Use this search to finds words and phases located anywhere in the title, descriptor or keyword fields. Use Keyword searches when it is not clear in which fields words or phrases relating to the material for which you are searching are likely to fall, when terms may appear in different places in different records, or when there are no results using other types of searches.

Because the keyword search is set up to look for any of the words entered, keyword search results can be very imprecise. To broaden or narrow a search use the Boolean operators <and &> <or + > or combine with terms in other entry boxes.

Keyword search examples:

Search Tips:

• Enter words or phrases in any order.

• Use quotation marks (" ") to retrieve exact phrases (e.g., "tax reform")

• Use @ at the end of a search word for truncation. For examples see Truncated Searching below.

HINT

If a Keyword search retrieves too many results (a common problem with Keyword searching), try:

• Reviewing the results list and identify a relevant record, then perform a new search using one of the relevant subject heading provided by selecting its hypertext link

Truncated searching

To search for a term and all of its related forms, add the truncation symbol @ to the end of the term. Note: Use only in the Title, Author, Keyword and Advanced query data box.

Example: infor@ will find all records containing information, informal, etc.

Truncation Search Examples:

Proper use of truncation:

Improper use of truncation:

The default operation between fields is AND

Example: Title INFORMATION, Author SMITH@ will find all records containing INFORMATION in the Title and have an Author of SMITH.

The default operation within fields/data boxes is also AND

Example: Title INFORMATION SCIENCE will find all records containing INFORMATION and SCIENCE in the Title.

Advanced Search

The query statement box (named Advanced) is reserved for advanced database searches. It allows for customized searching on all fields in the database. See Index Table.

Example: In the Advances search box type -- bib_level a and not subject_area wjr
BIB_LEVEL A (analytic entries: parts of books or journal articles)
AND NOT (must be spelled out)
SUBJECT_AREA WJR (weekly journal review entries)

This Gives you a set of articles which are not in journals held in the Information Centre.

Or if you wanted to limit your search for only items that are not circulating you could enter ITEM_STATUS AVAIL

The default operation when terms are entered in separate data boxes when using Keyword or when using Advanced search with any of the other fields is OR

Example: Title INFORMATION [Title] SCIENCE will find all records containing INFORMATION or SCIENCE in the Title.

To search for records containing INFORMATION immediately followed by SCIENCE in the same field, enter the field name and terms in the Advanced box separated by the field operator ADJ.

Example: Title INFORMATION ADJ SCIENCE will find all records containing INFORMATION immediately followed by SCIENCE in the Title. Words such as a, an, and, by, for, from, of, the, to, and with are ignored.
 

Search Results Display

• SD-Cite lists the titles along with authors and years of publication of the results of a search, with a link to the full description for each one (the Record).

• If the result of a search is a single record, SD-Cite bypasses the Results screen and presents the Record screen.

• If your selected record is also available on the Internet as either a website, electronic document or PDF, you can use the hypertext link to open the document or go to the webpage.

• After you have used the search form to find a set of records, you can use hypertext links to find more records in the database. These hypertext links are listed at the bottom of the record display and will take you to other documents on the linked topics.

• The Location line of the display provides you with information on where the item is in the Library and its availability status. If this line is not in the display then this is either part of our Weekly Journal Review collection, which is available in the journal cited or is an item still on order or is available internally only with the path listed being only available to staff members.