SilverPlatter Guide

British Nursing Index (BRNI)

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An Introduction to the BNI Core Database

The BNI Core Database contains citations from over 220 British and English language nursing related journals.

To see an update list of all journals within British Nursing Index visit this website:
http://www.bniplus.co.uk/journals.html

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Combining Searches

Beginning a search request with an operator (and, not, or, with, near, or in) automatically combines that request with the previous one.

For instance, if the search you just completed is health care searching for and elderly will give you the same results as if you search for health care and elderly. Similarly, the search health care followed by the search in ti is the same as health care in ti.

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Fields in the BNI Core Database

Records in BNI Core Database are divided into the following fields (listed alphabetically). Highlighted fields are limit fields.

There is a special subset of fields, Citation (CITN), which consists of the TI, AU, and SO fields. Use Citation to display, print, or save only these fields for a set of records.

IMPORTANT:
By default, only the citation fields are displayed when initially showing the results. WinSPIRS users can click on the "ALL FIELDS" button, whereas WebSPIRS users may need to alter the record display options for their session.

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Limit Fields

The limit fields listed below are specially indexed fields that have relatively few possible values. They allow you to limit your searches to records of a particular characteristic, such as type of publication or year of print.

Journal Name (JN)
ISSN Number (IS)
Publication Year (PY)
Update Code (UD)

You can search these fields with in or =. For example, to retrieve documents originally published in 1995, type:

1995 in py or py=1995

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Search Examples

The following examples demonstrate how to search the BNI Core Database. These examples are not exhaustive, but do illustrate several search techniques. It is important to note that, although all examples are given in lowercase, SPIRS is not case-sensitive; whether your search terms are entered in upper or lower-case, the same records will be retrieved.

Search Example 1:
Find the articles written by A Clarke. Authors' names appear in the Author (AU) field and are hyphenated with the
last name first. The best way to search for an author is by selecting the name from the Index.

1.  Look up Clarke in the Index.


2.  Select Clarke-A and then start the search.

Search Example 2:
Search for articles about reflective practice.

1.  Enter the term reflective practice in de.

Search Example 3:
Search for records about epilepsy in children.

1. Enter the term child*. 

Use the truncation symbol (*) to search for all variations of the root term "child," "children," "childhood," etc. 
Searching with truncation lets you retrieve records containing variations of your term.

2. Combine the results with a search for and epilepsy.

Beginning the search request with the and operator automatically adds it to the previous search. The resulting 
search retrieves records containing both the variations of the term "child" and the term "epilepsy."

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Using the index to find an Author or Journal Name

To locate an author, look up the last name in the Index. A segment of the Index beginning with the author's last name will be listed; included are all variations of the name that appear in the database. For example, if you look up clarke, you will find "clarke" and "clarke-a". Select and search for the appropriate variations and you will retrieve all documents written by that author.

Alternatively, you can search for an author in the Author (AU) field.

To locate a particular journal, go to the index and select the journal index by clicking the change button. A segment of the journal index will be listed; included are all variations of the journal names that appear in the database. For example, if you look up nursing, you will find "nursing" and all other journals beginning with nursing. Select and search for the appropriate name and you will retrieve all documents that originated from that journal.

Alternatively, you can search for a journal name in the Source (SO) field.

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Truncation and Wildcards

You can use the truncation symbol (*) as a substitute for any string of zero or more characters in your search term. For example, the search child* retrieves any record containing "child", "children", "childrens", "childhood", etc.

You can use the wildcard symbol (?) as a substitute for one character or none. For example, the search labo?r retrieves records containing "labour" or "labor".

The truncation and wildcard symbols can be used anywhere in your search term, except as the first character.

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Thesaurus

The BNI product has an associated thesaurus, which contains a list of controlled terms to aid searching. Click on the Thesaurus button to activate.

IMPORTANT:
It is not possible to use the thesaurus across multiple databases. The thesaurus button will appear to be "greyed out" if there is more than one database or database family member open.

Note that an item appearing in the list of controlled terms may not actually appear in the database records. This is intentional to allow for development of the records at a future date.

See Also: Suggest Button

The Suggest Button

The BNI product utilises a special feature called "suggest", which will compile a list of terms, from the descriptor field, similar to the term that was entered in the search box.

Use of this feature, without a thesaurus backbone or list of controlled terms is somewhat unpredictable and may lead to unexpected results. For this reason, the suggest button is not recommended although some will find it useful.

Where a thesaurus exists and is applied, the suggest feature will seek out similar terms from the thesaurus instead of using the descriptors.

Click on the Suggest button to activate.

IMPORTANT:
It is not possible to use the suggest across multiple databases. The suggest button will appear to be "greyed out" if there is more than one database or database family member open.

Note that when a thesaurus is applied, an item appearing in the list of controlled terms may not actually appear in the database records. This is intentional to allow for development of the records at a future date.

See Also: Thesaurus Button

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Displaying More Information

Unless otherwise specified in the configuration, searches will by default, list only the Citation fields.

WinSPIRS users can click on the "ALL FIELDS" button, whereas WebSPIRS users may need to alter the record display options for their session.

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Copyright Statement

The BNI database, produced by BNI Publications, is a bibliographic database that indexes articles from the most popular English language nursing journals published primarily in the United Kingdom. It is a comprehensive index covering all aspects of nursing, midwifery and community healthcare.

Copyright, BNI Publications, 1994 to present. All rights reserved.

Copyright Search and Retrieval Software, 1990 to present, SilverPlatter International N.V. All rights reserved.

The SilverPlatter quarter arc logo, SilverPlatter and ERL are trademarks of SilverPlatter International N.V. registered in one or more countries. The ERL compliant logo, SPIRS, MacSPIRS, WinSPIRS, WebSPIRS and UNIXSPIRS are trademarks of SilverPlatter International N.V.

BNI Publications use their best efforts to ensure that the Database contains an accurate representation or interpretation of the original material from which the Database was drawn, but neither BNI Publications nor its licensors shall be held responsible for any damage, claim or expense incurred by a subscriber or user as a result of its use or reliance upon the Database.

Neither BNI PUBLICATIONS nor its licensors make any representations or warranties, express or implied, including, without limitation, warranties as to merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose in connection with the database, ERL Technology, the SPIRS software, the guide files, indexes or supporting files. Both BNI PUBLICATIONS and its licensors specifically disclaim all such warranties and representations. Neither BNI PUBLICATIONS nor its licensors shall be liable for damages or other claims and demands arising out of use of this product or the data contained therein. In no event shall BNI PUBLICATIONS or its licensors be liable for special, consequential, exemplary or indirect damages, or for "lost profits", even if advised of the possibility thereof.

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Guide Revised October 4, 2005

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