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Guidelines
for entering search terms in STN Easy - Part 2
Here we provide some additional, more advanced guidelines and
techniques to help you search STN Easy.
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| Please
click on the small screenshots to get larger ones. The large screenshots
themselves can also be closed by clicking. |
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| Use
the appropriate Boolean operator. |
| You can ensure relevant search results by using
the appropriate Boolean operator to join search terms. Four
operators can be used to join terms in STN Easy: |
| AND - retrieves answers that contain both
terms. |
| OR - retrieves answers that contain at least
one of the terms. |
| NEAR - retrieves answers in which both terms
appear in close proximity (same sentence). Note: In full-text
databases it is advisable to link search terms by NEAR rather
than by AND. |
| NOT - retrieves answers that contain the
first term, then eliminates answers that contain the second
term. Note: The NOT operator can be useful in eliminating
unwanted answers. However, NOT should be used with caution.
A document may contain information on both terms, and the NOT
operator could eliminate potentially useful answers. |
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| Determine
the best way to join search terms. |
| Knowing the various ways to join terms may be beneficial
when you are setting up your search. There are two ways to use
Boolean operators in STN Easy: |
| - Place a Boolean operator between two terms within
a single search box. This method can be used in all STN Easy
search modes. |
| Example: enter chili and pepper within a
single search box |
| - With Advanced Search and Patent Lookup, you may enter each
term in a separate search box, then join the terms by selecting
an operator from the drop-down box provided.
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| Example: enter chili in the first search
box, select AND from the drop-down box, and enter pepper
in the second search box. |
| Multiple terms may also be entered without using any operators
to join them:
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| - Entering two terms without an operator is equivalent to
using the NEAR operator, i.e. STN Easy retrieves answers in
which all terms appear in the same sentence.
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| Example: enter chili pepper in a single
search box |
| - Placing two terms in quotation marks requires the terms
to appear together in the order entered. This is often referred
to as searching the terms "as a phrase".
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| Example: enter "chili pepper"
in a single search box |
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Group search terms with parentheses. |
| Queries are processed from left to right. To ensure
that a multiple-term search is processed in the way you intend,
you can use parentheses to specify word groupings. For example,
if you enter:
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red and black or gray
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you will retrieve records that contain "red" and
"black" as well as records that contain "gray"
(with or without "red" and "black"). However,
if you enter:
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red and (black or gray)
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you will retrieve records that contain "red" and
"black" as well as records that contain "red"
and "gray".
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| Start
with a broad topic, then refine. |
| An effective strategy for searching STN Easy is
to start with a broad topic. This approach will ensure that
you initially retrieve a large set of potentially relevant answers.
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From this large answer set, you can use the Refine feature
to limit the set to a reasonable size by entering an additional
search criterion. For refining, only the Boolean operators
AND and NOT can be used. Because refining is free, starting
with a broad search is a cost-effective way to search for
sci-tech information. A search can be refined as often as
you want. If the number of hits is too small after refining,
you can go back to the previous result with your browser´s
BACK button and try refining in a different way, again free
of charge.
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For example, you may be interested in recent improvements in the bottling of wine:
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1. To start with a broad topic:
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| - Enter wine as your search term. (Note:
Enter also all synonyms linked by the Boolean operator OR.)
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| - Click "Search" to retrieve all answers
related to wine. |
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2. To limit the answer set to those dealing with bottling:
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| - Click "Refine Your Search". The Refine
Page is displayed. |
| - On the first line, enter bottle (and
all synonyms linked by OR) in the search box. The AND operator
and the "Word(s)" field are selected by default. |
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3. To further limit the search to recent literature:
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- On the second line, select "Publication Year"
from the drop-down box. The AND operator is selected by default.
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| - Select 2001 and Current in the
"From/To" drop-down boxes. |
| 4. Click "Search" to retrieve the relevant
answers. |
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| Use
Browse Index before you search. |
| Advanced Search, CAS Number Search, and Patent
Lookup allow you to browse the content of databases before you
spend money for a search. The Browse Index feature allows you
to: |
| - Verify that your search term is present in the
database(s) and field (index) you have selected. |
| - See the number of records that contain your
search term. |
| - Look for variations of your search term, which
will help you find other spellings and word endings. |
| For example, you may want to determine the best
way to search for variations of the word "flavor":
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1. Select the Advanced Search mode. Then select
a database category and a field to search.
2. Enter a single search term.
3. Click the "Browse Index" button to the right of
your term. |
| A scrollable list of terms is provided. If you
have "show database posting counts" turned on in your
Preferences, the total number of hits for each term in your
chosen database category is also displayed. |
| 4. Select one or more appropriate terms from the
list. In this case, you may wish to select flavor, flavorant,
flavorants, etc. To select multiple terms, hold down
the <Control> key (<Command> key on Macintosh®)
while clicking on the appropriate terms. All selected terms
will be included when the search is run. |
| If you do not see any terms you wish to search,
click Reset. You can then enter another search term and click
Browse Index again. |
| Note: Once you have entered Boolean operators
within one field, do not use "Browse Index". |
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STN Easy 
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