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Expertly Searching the COS Database

COS Expertise is a rich resource, and it's easy to use. However, your searches can be much more effective if you are familiar with a few useful tips and tools; we'll go over some in the next few newsletters.

  • The All Fields search box is great for a quick search of a particular term across all the fields in a record.
  • To select multiple terms from any picklist, hold down the Ctrl key while you click (use the Apple key if you have a Mac).
  • Searches are not case sensitive; you can use either upper or lower case letters.
  • Don't use any punctuation marks, except the hyphen. Other punctuation marks may cause an error, since they are often used in computer programming.

Omit the articles a, an or the from your search wording; the searching software does not bother with these common words. For example, you will find the same result searching for man moon as man in the moon. There are dozens of other such words, called Stop Words; take a look at the list. While you won't hurt your search results by using Stop Words, you can save some typing and avoid potential typos by skipping them.

Part II, Building Your Search

An effective COS Expertise search begins with a strong foundation:

  • Begin by putting your query into words using plain language: Who are my colleagues in the field of nanotechnology and microelectronics theory?
  • Next, identify the key terms in your question: nanotechnology, microelectronics
  • Then, consider any synonyms or related terms to include, or any terms to exclude: include semiconductors, nanostructure
  • Use the Keyword Browser to find and add these specific terms to your search: nanotechnology, microelectronics, semiconductors
  • Identify into which Fields you want to put your terms: Expertise: nanotechnology or nanostructure; Keywords: microelectronics, nanotechnology, and semiconductors
  • Add any other desired criteria: institution, publications, etc.
  • Do the Search and review the results
  • If desired, Refine Your Query and include more criteria to narrow your search, or fewer criteria to broaden your search

It's easy to do a quick search by just entering a few terms in the All Fields box, but building your search using Keywords and other criteria means your search will be more efficient, and return more relevant results.

Part III: Special Operators

To help make your searches more efficient and effective, COS Expertise uses a set of special searching operators, words or characters that indicate specific functions. So even if you aren't quite sure of the spelling of a name, or if you're looking for someone with expertise in cancer but not in pediatric cancer, you can use special operators to target your search from the outset.

And—All records retrieved must contain all the words surrounding the And operator; if the user does not specify another operator, And is the default and will be assumed if multiple search terms are used.

example: Using the terms cancer, engineering, and language arts in the All Fields field will return all records that include those three terms.

Or—All records retrieved can contain one, all or any combination of the words surrounding the operator Or.

example: Agriculture or horticulture or agronomy will search for any records that have at least one of those words.

Not—Records retrieved will return records without the specified term; this is must used in combination with an inclusive term; this operator should be used carefully, as you may find that you unintentionally skip records that may indeed be relevant because they use the excluded words in ways you did not consider

example: Pediatric not oncology will retrieve records with the word pediatric that do not also have the word oncology.

* (truncation)—Also called a root word search, use the * after a root word to search for words with that root, but with unspecified suffixes.

example: Bio* will find biology, biotechnology, bioethics, biostatistics, biosphere, bionic, etc..

" " (phrase searching)—Surrounding a phrase in quotation marks " " will search for that specific phrase.

example: If you type biological agents in the All Fields field, you will receive records with just that phrase, not those only with biological in one field and agents in another.

Updated August 14, 2007