Biosis BIOSIS Previews workbook Page 39
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Searching
BIOSIS Previews
Searching for
Subject Information
Indexing Syntax Example
Individual descriptor fields are arranged in sentences. Each sentence is made up of
the following elements:
Keyterm (mandatory) the subject of the entry
Variant term (optional) a synonym of the keyterm
Classifier (optional) broader controlled term taken from the Authority File
Modifier (optional) descriptive text to give more detail to the keyterm
This syntax enables this group of terms to be linked together in searching, so that
the relationships between terms in the entry are retained, providing greater
precision in search results.
Punctuation:
Key term: Drosophila melanogaster
Variant: fruit fly
Classifier: Diptera
Modifier: pest (role in this article)
;
separates one sentence from another
[ ]
used with variant terms
( ), { }
used with classifiers
:
indicates modifiers
