Using the Thesaurus

The Thesaurus, with approximately 10,000 terms arranged in approximately 80 hierarchies, is a valuable search aid that helps you select appropriate terms, ensuring the most comprehensive retrieval. In ZR on CD, the Thesaurus allows you to view taxonomic, subject, geographical and palaeontological hierarchical vocabularies and choose broad or specific terms that meet your searching needs. Using the Thesaurus, you can locate all citations relating to a particular term or hierarchy with one search query. The ZR on CD Thesaurus comprises three screen displays, designed to help you access information quickly and efficiently.

They are:

List of Permuted Terms or Permuted Index: an alphabetical index of all Thesaurus terms and their commonly occurring synonyms.

Term Details or Term Information: a definition or scope note including history notes of the selected term, plus a list of its related terms, immediately broader and narrower terms, and the top term of the hierarchy.

Full Tree: the complete tree structures for the selected term, showing all of its broader and narrower terms. Use these screens to refine your search by selecting a more appropriate term from any of the displays.