Saturday, July 22, 2006

Database Searching - Not all Vocabulary Works the Same Way.


Entire document or full-text word searching generally finds content anywhere a word appears in a document. Keywords can be a bit tricky when searching for content as controlled vocabulary is used. Yes, there is a big difference in many specialized library databases between searching for subjects (which is usually assigned by a person selecting appropriate Library of Congress Authority Headings)entire document or full-text, and keywords.
For further reading click the link below.
And here is the rest of it.

Keywords
Searching for content using a keyword method draws upon controlled vocabulary. For example, Gale InfoTrac databases primarily develop keywords from words in the first paragraph or abstract (being a short summary ) of an article. Some databases may have people who assigns keywords to describe a document and it may take some practice in getting to know how a database does keyword searching. Keywords can be more descriptive and limiting (smaller sets of results) than full-text word searching through an entire document and database of periodicals or other content.

Entire Document or Full-Text
Anywhere a word or phrase appears within a document, sometimes captions and pictures with words are excluded from searching, documents should be retrieved that meet the exact word(s) of search strategy.

Subjects
Usually the fewest words to describe a document or work fit into the subject category. Years ago, the Library of Congress Subject Headings were developed to create uniformity and in making retrieval of records on the same topic using using different terms easier. Subject descriptions of works ususally follow a close set of rules and standards.

Steven S.

For further reading click on one or more of the following links:
Subject Searching
Keywords
Full-Text or Entire Document