Biosis BIOSIS Previews workbook Page 36
Searching
BIOSIS Previews
Searching for
Subject Information
Keyterms
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If the search is carried out using keyterms, all descriptor fields are included in your
search, including the Major Concept field for broad topics. Therefore, unless
searching for an ambiguous term (e.g., turkey can be a country or a bird), it is
recommended to conduct your search using keyterms. Also, consider the use of
Concept Codes, which will be discussed later in this workbook.
History Note:
Prior to 1993, remember to also include the Title field when searching for specific topics.
What is the advantage of searching the individual fields versus the keyterms?
The individual fields have biologically meaningful contexts that help restrict each
keyterm in that field, defining it by "the company it keeps" and disambiguating it
based upon its context. This solves the homonym problem in indexing. A life-
sciences example of the homonym problem is the keyterm "cancer". This term
out of context may be a neoplasm or a crustacean. But when the indexer tags this
key term with the diseases or organism field, the ambiguity vanishes. Search using
the individual descriptor fields when you need to locate ambiguous terms.
If you require comprehensive retrieval, you should also identify appropriate Concept
Codes and include these for broad topic searches.
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