GUIDE TO REFERENCE
SEARCH TIPS AND STRATEGIES
See also "Browsing, Searching and Reviewing Results" in the FAQ. If you have a question not covered here or in the FAQ, please e-mail us at guidetoreference@ala.org.
A list of common questions and answers is available on the following topics:
Searching by Title
Searching by Author
Searching by Topic/Subject
Searching by Publication Date
Search by LC/Dewey
Searching by Publisher
Finding Web/Online Sources
Working With Results
SEARCHING BY TITLE
Q: How do I search for a work by title?
A: An Advanced Search lets you search specifically by Title field. The single-box Search (at the upper right-hand corner of the page) looks for keywords (implicit Boolean AND) in the Title, Author, Annotation, and Publisher fields at the same time.
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Q: I don't think I have the exact title of a book I'm looking for. What should I do?
A: An Advanced Search in the Title field will look for keywords in any order in titles, with an implicit Boolean AND. Words in subtitles will also be included. The single-box Search will look for keywords in any order in the Title field (as well as in the Annotation, which may help if what you search for is close to the title), with an implicit Boolean AND.
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Q: I want to find works that are about Harvard University, but the single-box Search keeps finding titles published by Harvard University Press.
A: Do an Advanced Search instead and search for Harvard University in the Title field. You can also try an Advanced Search with Harvard University in the Annotation field in case the University is mentioned in an annotation. This kind of Advanced Search will exclude results based on the Publisher field (which is automatically included in a single-box Search).
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SEARCHING BY AUTHOR
Q: How do I search for works by an author?
A: Do an Advanced Search in the Author field. The single-box Search will also look for keywords in the Author field (as well as in the Title, Annotation, and Publisher fields). The most thorough author search will take the form of LastName, FirstName. The Guide uses implicit truncation, so these three searches yield the same result: Author = Frucht, Richard; Author = Frucht, Rich; Author = Frucht, R.
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Q: I'm looking for works by Cornel West. How can I limit my results to his name and avoid results like Alan West, West Publishing, western reptiles, etc.?
A: Do an Advanced Search in the Author field for Cornel West or West, Cornel.
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Q: I think my author's name sometimes includes a middle name and sometimes not. What can I do to be sure I have all the entries for the author?
A: Do an Advanced Search by Author and enter the last name first, a comma, and then the first name. For example: Hine, Darlene will find titles by Darlene Hine as well as Darlene Clark Hine.
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SEARCHING BY TOPIC/SUBJECT
Q: How can I find titles on a related subject?
A: In Browse, you can drill down through the hierarchy of categories to seek out a promising heading. For example, click Social & Behavioral Sciences, then Psychology, and then Social Psychology, choosing the next level of refined category from the "Narrow by Category" list on the left hand side of the screen. Also, if you have found a title that relates to your area of interest, click on View Full Entry>> for that title and look at the subject categories that have been assigned to the work under "See Related Categories." Clicking on the related subject categories will take you to titles that are related to your original title.
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Q: I think my topic is interdisciplinary (social psychology). How can I search in multiple subject categories?
A: Do a single-box Search and enter relevant search terms that describe your area of interest like social and psychology. (If you want to be more precise, enter terms as a phrase in quotations like "social psychology"). After getting your results, look at the list of subject categories on the left side of the screen under "Narrow by Category." Click on these categories to drill farther down into your subject. Remember that there are also five Interdisciplinary subjects in Guide to Reference, including Cognitive Science, Communication and Media Studies, Cultural Studies, Environmental Studies, and Gender Studies.
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Q: If I want to find all the works on tests or testing, what should I do?
A: Remember that the search mechanism relies on implicit truncation (aka automatic stemming) so that any word beginning with the set of characters you search with is retrieved (a search for 300 will also retrieve 3000; you can avoid this by using the phrase-oriented quotation marks to search only for "300"). To find works with test in the title, do an Advanced Search on the title field using "test".
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Q: Where does Guide to Reference list the general sources for a broad discipline, such as the best index or best encyclopedia?
A: Sources that serve a discipline broadly are categorized under the link "General Works" for each subject category in the Browse feature of the Guide. To find broad-based sources, do a Browse search by clicking on a subject category like Religion. On the results page you will find the link "General Works" in the first position in the left-side side of the page. Click on "General Works" to see the sources that serve the entire discipline. General sources are divided into formats, usually including guides, dictionaries, encyclopedias, indexes, directories, handbooks, and more.
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Q: Why don't I pick up all the sources in a category when I keyword-search for them?
A: The category terms themselves are not keyword-searchable. You can search through the Browse categories or search several keywords, taking advantage of the stemming features.
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SEARCHING BY PUBLICATION DATE
Q: How can I limit my search to titles published within the last 15 years?
A: After you enter your other criteria in Advanced Search, scroll down to the "Publication Date" area of the form. Use the drop-down menus to enter a date range of 1994 to 2009. No need to enter months; the search mechanism assumes January as the beginning month and December as the ending month. However, both a beginning and ending year must be selected or the publication date criteria will be ignored.
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Q: When is the Publication Date limit ineffective?
A: Limiting by publication date may exclude websites and other online works that don't necessarily include a publication date in the entry. The limit may also exclude serials and title changes, where the date in the bibliographic data may not match the source name with which you're familiar. Major title changes are tracked in the annotations rather than in the citations. Because 1911 is the earliest publication date available in the drop-down menus, any search limited by publication date can only include works published in 1911 or later. However, if no publication date limit is applied to a search, then works of all publication dates (including prior to 1911) will be included in the results.
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SEARCHING BY LC/DEWEY
Q: How can I limit my search by LC or Dewey?
A: Select Advanced Search and scroll down to the "LC Classification/Dewey Range" area of the form. For best results, use simple ranges such as LC Classification = QD1 to QD399 or Dewey Range = 540 to 549. Both a beginning and ending value must be entered or the criteria will be ignored.
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Q: When is the LC/Dewey limit ineffective?
A: LC and Dewey call numbers tend only to be present in print and media entries. Some online sources are assigned general or broad call numbers, and websites are rarely assigned call numbers. Some entries in the Guide have either an LC or a Dewey number, but not both. Try Browse when call number searches do not produce the desired results.
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SEARCHING BY PUBLISHER
Q: What if I want to see what kind of reference books are published by a specific publisher?
A: Go to Advanced Search, choose Publisher from the drop-down menu, and enter the name of the publisher, such as "ABC-CLIO" or "Oxford University Press".
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FINDING WEB/ONLINE SOURCES
Q: How can I find all entries in the Guide that lead to works that are available on the Web?
A: A single-box Search for http will find records that include a URL as part of the citation or in the annotation for the title. A search for "e-book" as a phrase (use the quotation marks or the system will think you mean the word book) will find any item for which the annotation says "Available as an e-book." A search for the phrase "available online" will also find annotations with that comment.
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Q: How can I see lists of reference works that are available in online or e-book format?
A: Many titles are available in both print and online versions. This will often be indicated in the annotations for titles. Perform an Advanced Search in the annotation field for phrases like "e-book" or "available online" or "electronically" to retrieve titles whose annotations include those phrases.
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WORKING WITH RESULTS
Q: After I get a list of search results, how can I rapidly browse through the titles for relevance?
A: Ordinarily, in a list of search results you will see titles and the first several lines of the annotation for each title. To see the full annotation for a title, click on View Full Entry>>. To return to the original list of search results, click on « Back to Results.
If you would rather browse through titles one after the other, with full entry details for each, click on one of two links above your search results: "Select all titles in search results" or "Select all titles on this page." Checkmarks will be placed in the boxes next to the titles you select, whether it's all of the titles from the search or just the titles on one page. When the checkmarks have been placed in the boxes by the titles, click on the button "View Details" (it's in the toolbar with Add to List, Export, Print, E-mail, etc. at both the top and bottom of the results).
This will display the first title with full entry details. Use the navigation buttons, «« Previous Page and Next Page »», to move through the selected titles page by page, each entry with its full details on view.
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Q: Why do I get so many irrelevant results (false drops) when I keyword search?
A: Remember that the search mechanism relies on implicit truncation (aka automatic stemming) so that any word beginning with the set of characters specified is retrieved (so a search for cat will also retrieve catalog, category, eye-catching, and Cathleen). You can exclude these kinds of results by using phrase-oriented quotation marks in a single-box Search to search only for "cat" or "catalog". Or you can use the Advanced Search to connect all your precise terms by changing the logic boxes to OR, such as "cat" OR "cats".
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Q: My library doesn't have a copy of a book I want to use. How can I find out who has a copy?
A: In the Entry Details for a title, you can Find a copy by clicking on that link to OCLC WorldCat, then by entering your ZIP code.
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