Sample Searches

Below are examples of the types of searches you can use to retrieve information from the Zoological Record on Compact Disc database.

Eample 1

The example below shows how to search in a specific field. Search for the Latin name of an organism, in this case, barn owl.

1. Conduct a search for barn owl in ti. Barn owl is a specific organism. ZR on CD uses Latin or taxonomic names in its indexing, therefore it is essential to determine the Latin name of a specific organism to give you the most comprehensive search.

2. Browse the Title (TI) and Descriptors (DE) fields to find the Latin name for barn owl, which is tyto alba.

3. Conduct a search for tyto alba in de.

Example 2

The example below shows how to search using free text and the Thesaurus. Search for records of articles about the diet of barn owls.

1. Type the word diet at the Thesaurus prompt, and press Enter. The List of Permuted Terms is displayed.

2. Move the cursor to the term diet and select it. The Term Details screen is displayed. This provides the definition of the term and how it is used. It may also provide a more appropriate term.

3. Select Explode Term to retrieve all occurrences of the term diet, plus all its narrower terms.

4. Search for the second concept by typing tyto alba in de at the Find prompt and pressing Enter. From search example #1 we know that the Latin name for barn owl is tyto alba.

5. Combine the results of both searches by typing #1 near #4 and pressing Enter. Using the NEAR operator in a search request finds records that link the animal to the subject information in the same sentence to ensure relevancy.

Example 3

The example below shows how to search using free text. Search for records of articles about the effects of PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) and organochlorines on otters of the genus Lutra.

1. Conduct a search for pcb* or polychlorinated biphenyls* or organochlorine* in de (or any other variant and synonyms). Using the truncation symbol (*) searches for all variations of the root terms.

2. Conduct a search for near lutra in de. Lutra is the genus name for otter and searching for it in the Descriptors (DE) field ensures records retrieved have lutra as a subject. Beginning a search request with the NEAR operator finds records that link the animal to the subject information in the same sentence to ensure relevancy.