Dialog

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Dialog

• February 25, 2006

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Todays Agenda

• Questions about Real Life Search?
• Tip Sheet Assignment
• Dialog
• What is it?
• Bluesheets
• BEST
• Dialog Practice

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Qs about Real Life Search?
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Tip Sheet Assignment
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FirstSearch Library Provided
http//www.uri.edu/library/guides/databases/firsts
earch/firstsearch.html
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EBSCO Library Provided
http//www.stratford.library.on.ca/databasehelp/eb
sco.htm
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Dialog Quote

• People are most likely to count, propose
  marriage, and pray in their mother tongue, no
  matter how long they have been living in a
  different culture. My mother tongue of online
  searching is Dialog.
• Péter Jacsó, The Synergy of Special Databases
  and
• Power Commands on Dialog, October 1997

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Why Learn Dialog?

• Pros
• Forces good discipline in preparing to search
• Shows the insides of databases
• Has broadest content of any resource
• Very good help documentation called bluesheets
• Cons
• Very steep learning curve
• Unlikely to use Dialog in professional life
  primarily used in corporate etting
• Expensive pricing structure very complex

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What is Dialog?

• The largest supermarket aggregator
• Common search interface for over 450 databases
  and 800 million unique records
• 20,000 corporate clients and over 100,000
  professional researchers in 100 countries

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Dialog Depth

• Indexes over 100,000 publications
• Full-text of over 7,000 journals, magazines, and
  newsletters
• Financial profiles and background information
• Details on over 15 million patents worldwide
• Data on more than 10 million chemical substances

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Dialog Databases

• Familiar
• ABI/Inform
• America History and Life
• Marquis Whos Who
• Medline
• PsycINFO
• Unusual
• Employee Benefits Infosource
• Foodline
• French Patents
• New Zealand Papers

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Dialog Allows Precision

• Every database field is searchable
• Standard fields
• Non standard
• Can sort by many fields
• Author
• Title
• Publication date
• Number of employees
• Sales figures

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Bluesheets

• Meta-information about database, including file
  description, subject and date coverage, update
  frequency, and source(s) of data.
• Sample record
• Search options
• Fields focus or narrow search
• Examples of how to use them
• Limit sort options
• Price information

Consistent
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View Bluesheets Online

• Arranged by
• Database Name
• Database Number
• Subject business, news, patents, etc.
• Which fields you can search (company name,
  employees, geographic location, etc.)
• http//library.dialog.com/bluesheets/html/blf.html

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ABI/Inform Bluesheet File 15
Dialog File 15
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ABI/Inform Basic Index
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ABI/Inform Addl Indexes
Read the fine print!!!
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Access Dialog

• Class Dialog Links to
• DialogWeb
• Bluesheets
• Training materials
• Commands discussed in class
• http//web.simmons.edu/browns/dialog.html

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Essential Dialog Strategy

• WHERE to search. How determine?
• Dialog Bluesheets
• DialogWeb Databases
• CONSTRUCT the search
• Begin
• Expand
• Select
• OUTPUT MANIPULATE results
• Type
• Display Sets

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Where to Search in Dialog
450 different databases! How do you choose?

• DialogWeb Databases link
• Search topic to see how many matches in which
  databases
• Browse Yahoo!-like directory and then search
• Browse Bluesheets list online
• http//library.dialog.com/bluesheets/html/bls.htm
  l

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Journal Name Search
http//library.dialog.com/bluesheets/
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Journal Results
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DialogWeb Databases
Search ST databases for badger
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Notes About Assignment

• Video available in your library?
• Google Scholar offers Library Search for books
• Author searching
• Yahoo! Groups
• If attaching printouts, include only first page
• Citations generally quite good if I wrote a
  note, pay attention
• Dont be sloppy

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,
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(No Transcript)
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Citation Review
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(No Transcript)
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Grading for Assignment

• v
• Looking for evidence of your search strategy,
  making good decisions
• Patron is WOWed! by strategy, creativity,
  authority of sources

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Construct a Search BEST

• B begin (select a database)
• E expand (find term database uses)
• S search/select
• T type (to see the records)

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BEGIN

• Open a database or set of databases
• Type manually
• or
• Add by clicking the button in
  DialogWeb
• ?b 15
• ?b 15, 18, 101

? command prompt
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EXPAND

• Explore choices/variations for search terms
• Verify variant spelling, punctuation
• Access database thesaurus
• Find out what the database calls it, then search
  it

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Expand Example

• Looking for Martha Stewarts company
• ?b 15
• e comartha?

• Ref Items Index-term
• E1 1 COMARTEN TRANSPORT LTD
• E2 1 COMARTHA STEWART LIVING OMNIMEDIA
• E3 0 COMARTHA?
• E4 1 COMARTIN INDUSTRIES INC DE

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SELECT (start)

• Use the select command to start searching
• ?b1
• ?s librarian
• S1 4068 LIBRARIAN

• ?s (dog or pup or puppy or puppies)
• 27506 DOG
• 311 PUP
• 748 PUPPY
• 512 PUPPIES
• S2 28493 (DOG OR PUP OR PUPPY OR PUPPIES)

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Select from Expand

• Ref Items Index-term
• E1 1 COMARTEN TRANSPORT LTD
• E2 1 COMARTHA STEWART LIVING OMNIMEDIA
• E3 0 COMARTHA?
• E4 1 COMARTIN INDUSTRIES INC DE
• ?s e2
• Selects the record for Martha Stewart Living
  Omnimedia

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TYPE (View Records)

• Specify exactly what you want to display
• Set number
• Format (see bluesheets for format options)
• Records (default is first 10)
• t s8/3/1-10
• SYNTAX
• t set number/format of display/items to display

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Type Example

• ?t s8/3/1
• View set 8, format 3 medium, first record

8/3/1 DIALOG(R)File 15ABI/Inform(R) (c) 2004
ProQuest InfoLearning. All rts.
reserv. Reckoning at hand for Stewart
empire Sherman, Jay TelevisionWeek v22n47 PP
3, 28 Nov 24, 2003 JRNL CODE ELME WORD COUNT
864
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Predefined Format Types

• Bluesheet lists predefined format options
• Most common
• Medium citation fields
• Long full record except text
• Short title publication date
• Free title indexing not citation info!

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Field Searching

• Basic Index suffix
• Primary fields in the database
• term / field
• amazon / co
• Additional Index prefix
• Secondary fields in the database
• field term
• jn newsweek

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Limits

• Take results set and narrow by particular
  elements
• English
• Full-text
• Publication year
• Search for Ford in ABI/Inform search set 1
• Limit to full-text articles about Ford
• S1/fulltext
• Limits section of bluesheet

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Display Sets (ds)

• See all the searches youve done in a session
• ?b15
• ?ds
• Set Items Description
• S1 1711 MARTHA(W)STEWART
• S2 1 CO'MARTHASTEWART.COM'
• S3 360 TSAMZN
• S4 370128 RTFULLTEXT
• Can combine into new sets
• ?s s1 and s4

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Combine Sets

• ?b 15
• ?s martha(n)stewart/nm
• 72 MARTHA/nm
• 106 STEWART/nm
• S6 53 MARTHA(N)STEWART/nm
• ?s rtfulltext
• S7 370128 RTFULLTEXT
• ?s s6 and s7
• 53 S6
• 370128 S7
• S8 16 S6 AND S7

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Look at DialogWeb
Wheres the Search Box?
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Sample Searches in ERIC

• Hand out passwords
• Sign return forms
• Keep passwords!!!

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Truncation Boolean

• Open-ended Truncation ???
• litigat? litigation, litigator, litigate
• Internal Truncation (exact number)
• bernst??n bernstein, bernstien
• wom?n woman, women
• Logical Operators
• AND
• OR
• NOT

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Proximity Operators (w)

• () or (w) Terms must be adjacent to each other
  and in the order specified
• s library()science
• s sun(w)microsystems
• (w) Terms must be within words of each other
  and in the specified order
• s solar(3w)energy

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Proximity Operators (n)

• (n) Terms must be adjacent to each other in any
  order
• s egg(n)chicken
• s johnson(n)johnson
• (n) Terms must appear within words of each
  other in any order
• s library(2n)science

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SORT

• Look at Special Features on bluesheet for
  sortable fields
• Creates new set
• Do this before TYPE
• ?sort s6/all/py
• SYNTAX sort set/which records/field

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Sort Order

• Ascending order (default)
• Oldest, lowest first
• sort s1/all/py
• 2000
• 2003
• 2006
• or
• sort s2/all/zp
• 01002
• 01040
• 02696

• Descending order ,d
• Most recent, highest first
• sort s1/all/py, d
• 2006
• 2003
• 2001
• or
• sort s2/all/zp, d
• 06490
• 01040
• 01002

Add ,d for descending order
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Get Me Outta Here!

• When youre done
• type logoff to end
• click button in DialogWeb

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How Much Does it Cost?!

• A lot!

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Sample Search

• ?b 15 (ABI/Inform)
• ?ds
• Set Items Description
• S1 591 CO'GILLETTE CO'
• S2 2865 CO'PROCTER GAMBLE CO'
• S3 36 S1 AND S2
• S4 6 S3/20042005
• S5 6 Sort S4/ALL/PD,D
• ?t s5/medium/all

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First Record Looks Like

• 5/3/1
• DIALOG(R)File 15ABI/Inform(R)
• (c) 2005 ProQuest InfoLearning. All rts. reserv.
• 02806941 730980661
• PG, Colgate step up oral-care fight
• Neff, Jack
• Advertising Age v75n44 PP 10 Nov 1, 2004
• ISSN 0001-8899 JRNL CODE ADA

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Cost for Sample Search

• ?logoff
• 30jan05 173354 User007088 Session D1934.2
• 0.50 0.033 Hrs File1 0.00
  6 Type(s) in Format 3
• 0.00 6 Types
• 0.50 Estimated cost File15
• 2.25 INTERNET
• 2.75 Estimated cost this search
• 4.55 Estimated total session cost 0.034
  Hrs.
• Logoff level 04.20.00 D 173354

Must add cost for type commands
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Cost of ABI/Inform Search

• Search Cost for file 15
• Estimated cost File15 .50
• INTERNET charge 2.25
• Charge for citation format medium from
  bluesheet 1.65 each
• x 6 citations 9.90
• Cost for above search 12.65

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Important Concepts

• basic index additional index see fields you
  can search
• ds display sets (see searches youve done)
• sort sort set/records/fields
• ,d to change to descending order
• logoff end session

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Dialog Miscellaneous

• Take advantage of special features
• Field-specific searching
• Limits
• We dont have access to all files
• U.S. Papers, file 483, e.g.
• CapiTaLIZation irRELevant
• Not all files have the same fields or options
• May get message X field not supported

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Bottom Line BEST / Blue

• ESSENTIAL
• b begin
• e expand
• s select/search also sort, if important
• t type
• Pay attention to bluesheets!

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Due Next Week

• Dialog 1 Assignment
• Work on Dialog 2 assignment bring questions to
  class
• Bring todays handouts to class next week
• Chat on Wednesday?
• Tomorrow! Dialog workshop with Dixie
• Time to work together on assignment
• Ask her about Dialog review in-class practice
• 11 am 1 pm, GSLIS Office