IMPROVING PRECISION
CSA-IDS
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Controlled Term Searching
The ZR Plus Controlled Terms are arranged in a
hierarchical thesaurus. This is a powerful search tool
and should be used as the first step in locating possible
search terms. Scope notes enable you to identify
appropriate controlled terms for your search so that
you can locate all citations relating to a particular
topic with one search query. Use the single-term search
option to search only the selected term. Use the exploded
search option to search the selected term and all of
its narrower terms. Include related terms in your search
if appropriate.
Mark the term(s) you want to search. If you mark more than
one term, select the appropriate operator ("Use AND to
narrow" or "Use OR to broaden") for your search. Select
"Explode (with narrower terms)" if you want to search a
term and all of its narrower terms. In the example above,
"Habitat management" has no narrower terms; where
narrower terms are available, this is indicated by [+].
Searches from the thesaurus are carried out in the
Descriptors (DE=), Systematics (SY=), and Supertaxa (SX=)
fields, and are recorded in Search History as DE=.
Links
You can focus a search by linking
terms WITHIN n or by using the
NEAR operator. This is useful in
linking subject information to a particular
animal name to eliminate irrelevancy if
the subject is discussed in the context
of a different animal in the
same item.
Example
panthera leo NEAR ecology
lagothrix cana WITHIN 20
distribution
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Limits
Your search can be limited to publication year using the
options on the search forms.
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Example
s
s
Habitat management
Management of an animal's habitat for the preservation
of natural resources. Valid for v.128-; for v.115-127
use CONSERVATION or narrower terms.
Broader terms
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s
Conservation measures [+]
Methods used to conserve and manage animal
populations. Valid for v.128-; for v.115-127 use
CONSERVATION or narrower terms.
Related terms
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Habitat [+]
Site and particular type of local environment
occupied by an organism; restricted to items where
the habitat itself is of significance.
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Habitat preservation
Valid for v.115-127; for v.128- use HABITAT
MANAGEMENT.
Previous Term
:
Habitat exploitation
Next Term
:
Habitat modification [+]
Animal Names
English vernacular names for 57 broad animal groups (e.g.,
Chordates, Mammals, Vertebrates) are assigned to the Supertaxa
(SX) field. See the online database information or the Zoological
Record Search Guide for a full list of Supertaxa terms. Otherwise,
scientific animal names are used to index items for Zoological
Record. If you don't know the scientific name to use in your
search, try a preliminary search using a vernacular name to
locate references where the vernacular name is mentioned. Scan
the Title (TI)/Original Title (OT) and Systematics (SY) fields of a
few records to determine the scientific name.
Example
To find the scientific name for the woolly monkey,
search:
woolly monkey*
Nomenclature and taxonomy
Information relating to the taxonomy and nomeclature appears
in individual DE fields after the Broad terms and non taxonomic
information.
The individual DE fields enable you to use the NEAR operator to
search very precisely for information about nomenclature and
taxonomy associated with particular groups of animals.
Example
To find descriptions of new subspecies of primates
search:
subsp nov NEAR explode primates
info@biosis.org · www.biosis.org
Search Tips
