SPELLING Words in titles and abstracts are spelled as in the original. It is therefore necessary to allow for spelling variations, including especially British spelling. Often, this can be done with the "wild card" character ? e.g.: behavio?r , which stands for zero or one character anywhere in a word or phrase.

Note that all Zoological Record indexing terms use British spelling!

ADJUSTING YOUR SEARCH

If you get TOO MANY RESULTS, then add a subject term to the query:

e.g. rattus and (biogeograph* or dispersal)

If TOO FEW, try just the genus name

Use TRUNCATION when possible;

shorten words to the smallest meaningful stem and add the truncation symbol: * e.g.: ecolog*

HINT: As a start, for less-studied species, use the organism name only, without any subject terms, e.g. rattus turkestanicus

sometimes, just the genus name is enough., e.g. dasypus

TO LOOK FOR PUBLICATION YEARS -- LIMIT,

use these formats, e.g.:

py = 1993 (or 1993 in py )

py = 1993-1995

py > 1993

py >=1996 In any field with numerical data, you may use these 5 range operators. (or >= , or <, or <= )

TO LOOK FOR LANGUAGE -- LIMIT, use these formats, e.g.:

la=english (or: english in la )

LATERAL SEARCHING

Once you have displayed a record, you can SELECT TERMS from the record for further searching

Select the term with the cursor (highlight the term)

Select Copy from the File menu (or ^C)

then the Search button at the top right

Then paste (or ^V) it into the Search box.

You can then combine it with your previous ones

This is especially useful in finding indexing terms, systematics, Super Taxa, etc.

Special Techniques for Zoological Record

SYSTEMATICS (SY)

Each article is given special indexing for taxonomic categories, as listed in the manual.

Every level in the taxonomic hierarchy is indexed.

You can best find these categories by examining the indexing for relevant articles you have found.

You can also find them in the thesaurus

SUPER-TAXA (ST)

there's special indexing for very broad groups of organisms, listed in the manual.

Enter as words, e.g.

primates, or protozoa

You can find these codes by examining the indexing for relevant articles you have found.

or consult our list of Super Taxa

Note: these are the same Super Taxa names as used in Biological Abstracts

USING THE INDEX
Type your term in the search box
Select the Index button at the top

The index will open as an alphabetic list, including all terms -- and names -- used in the system, controlled or uncontrolled.
scroll to the term you want
Select it and add it to the search

This is a convenient way of examining the wording of related subject descriptors

DESCRIPTORS (DE)
Each article is given special indexing for a group of subject keywords, also listed in the manual.
These are NOT the same categories as used in Biological Abstracts!

Use them to restrict your recovery to the general subject field, e.g.
Use them to eliminate categories you don't want

You can best find these terms by examining the indexing for relevant articles you have found.
You can also find them in the thesaurus
All Descriptor terms in this index use BRITISH SPELLING!!

USING THE THESAURUS
The descriptors used in Zoological Record, together with cross-references and explanations, are listed in the Thesaurus.
To find a term in the thesaurus, click the Thesaurus button at the far right; then type the term in the box, and click the Look Up button. You will see a list, called the Permuted Index, a keyword index alphabetized by each word, in every phrase.

If your term matches a descriptor you will see that term highlighted;
If your term matches a cross-reference to a descriptor, you will see the reference highlighted, and can then click on the indicated descriptor.
if not, you will see the closest alphabetical matches.

You can view details about the descriptor, search for the descriptor, or search for related descriptors.

To search related descriptors, examine the list of narrower, broader, and related terms which appears in the descriptor view.
To search any particular one, select it from the list.
You can search for a group of terms at once by exploding a subject "Tree".
The trees are shown in the thesaurus display.
Search all the terms in a particular tree by selecting Explode in the Search Options box.
This finds records with that term or any of its narrower terms as a descriptor.

REMEMBER: all descriptors in Zoological Record use BRITISH spelling! with the exception of "oecology" for which you will retrieve only 2 unique hits.

REFERENCE

• OPERATORS
  AND...both terms in same document
  OR....either term present in the document
  NOT...the second term not present in the document
  NEAR..both terms in the same sentence
  ... NEAR3 (same sentence and within 3 words) (etc.)
  WITH (in the same field)
  adjacency -- two terms typed next to each other in the search box are searched as being adjacent, in either order:
  e.g., heart lung gives the same result as lung heart If you use the ADJ operator, you will retrieve results with the phrase only in the given order.
  * Truncation mark, stands for any number of characters at the end of a word
  ? "wild card" mark, stands for 0 or 1 character at the end or middle of a word
  
  
• SEARCHABLE FIELDS
  You can restrict your search to a particular field by
  1. Using Search Builder or
  2. by adding the 2-character field code in XX
  e.g. ribonuclease in ti
  AU author
  DE descriptors (added subject terms)
  NT notes (publication info.)
  SO source (journal or book name)
  ST Super Taxa
  SY Systematics
  TI title
  TP topics: the combination of DE and SY
  
  
• INDEXES
  The Indexes button is at the right.
  LR Long Record
  SN ISSN for International Standard Serial Number
  BN ISBN for International Standard Book Number
  PY Publication Year
  LA Language
  LS Language of summary
  DT Document type
  JA Journal Announcement section/software
  AN Accession number
  UD Update code
  Searching for Reviews: Use "review" in the search box. since it does not appear as a Document Type in the LIMIT or INDEX functions.
  
• LIMIT FIELDS
  DT document type
  JA journal announcement--includes printed section number
  LA language
  LR long record marker
  LS language of summary
  PY publication year
  UD update code
  To search a limit field you must click on the "Set Other Limits" button. Likewise, you must "Clear All Limits" when you no longer want them applied to your searches. The following syntax still works in the search box:
  la=english (or: english in la)

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revised Aug. 21, 1998.

URL: http://www.princeton.edu/~biolib/instruct/ZooRW.html Send questions/comments, requests for books/articles and suggestions for new titles to us at biolib@princeton.edu Last updated: