Using Indexes

This database contains a free text index as well as field-specific indexes.

Using the Free Text Index

The Free Text Index (General Index) contains an alphabetical list of all the terms used to index the database. It allows you to look up, select, and search for variations of a term. The Free Text Index is particularly useful if you are uncertain of the spelling of a term or how the terms appear in the database. Since this index shows all terms that have been used in indexing the database, your search will always yield results.

Refer to the SPIRS Help for more information on using the Index.

Using Field-Specific Indexes

A field-specific index contains a sorted list of the terms that appears in an individual field. As with the Free Text Index, this allows you to look up, select, and search for variations of a term. The advantage of a field-specific index is that you know where the terms appear in the database. For example, if you look up "reports research" in the Document Type Field-Specific Index, you know that all occurrences of the term are as a type of document.

In addition to the Free Text Index, the following database fields have field-specific indexes. Note that CH, CP, DT, DTC, FI, GL, JA, LA, LV, PG, PY, and TA are also limit fields.

Accession Number (AN)

Personal Author Index (AUI)

Clearinghouse (CH)

Clearinghouse Number (CHN)

Contract/Grant Number(s) (CN)

Geographic Source/Country of Publication (CP)

Document Type (DT)

Document Type Code (DTC)

Source File (FI)

Government Level (GL)

International Standard Book Number (ISBN)

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

Journal Name (JN)

Language (LA)

Level of Availability (LV)

Pagination (PG)

Publication Year (PY)

Report Number (RN)

Target Audience (TA)