HELP!
with Searching Saybrook's Catalog of
Humanistic Psychology on the Web
Introduction
This database of Humanistic and Transpersonal psychology WWW sites is a
kind of library catalog. Instead of showing what books or journals the
library owns and where to find them, the records link to WWW sites. The
cataloged sites have been selected by Saybrook's librarians and faculty
from the mass of available WWW sites much as books and journals are selected
by libraries. To be included in this catalog, WWW sites must be accessible
at no cost and must present substantial, authoritative, and timely information
on topics or organizations relevant to the Saybrook curriculum and the
interests of its students and faculty.
Contents
Full Record
Linking to Resource Sites (important!)
Quick Searches
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Search
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Author
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Title
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Subject
Truncation
Exact Terms
Advanced Searches
Full Record
When you enter search terms the catalog will present you with a list of
records containing your search terms.
If there are no records containing your search terms, a dialog box will
appear with a message saying so and asking if you'd like to browse the
list of keywords (all the index terms) beginning with those (alphabetically)
closest to your search term.
If your term appears in one or more records, you'll be presented with
a list of all the records in which it appears. The list is by title and
author in no particular order. To view a full record, click on the WWW
Globe icon to the right of the record title or on the title itself.
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Linking to Resource Sites (important!)
Each record in the catalog links to the site it describes. You'll
find the link, labelled URL (Uniform Resource Locater
/ http address), at the end
of the full record. Clicking on that link should open the resource in your
browser. When the resource opens in your browser you
will have left the catalog. You can return to the catalog by using your
browser's Back button or by adding it to your Bookmarks (Netscape) or Favorites
(Internet Explorer).
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Quick Searches
The catalog opens at the quick search page. Enter your search term in the
text box, then click on one of the icons to the right.
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Search is the broadest of these. It searches the Author, Title,
and Subject indexes plus notes and summaries. Records which include the
term you've entered are presented as a list in no particular order.
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Author searches only the index of author names. Enter the author's
last name in the text box and click on Author.
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Title searches the index of title words and titles. Enter a word
or phrase from a title in the text box and click on Title.
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Subject searches only the subject headings assigned to each site
to describe its contents. Subject headings are taken from Library of
Congress Subject Headings and the APA Thesaurus of Psychological
Index Terms and sometimes differ from the terms you might use. If your
term doesn't result in any records, try using the same term in Search.
The term may have been used in a note or summary rather than in an assigned
subject heading. Enter a word or phrase in the text box and click on Subject.
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Truncated Terms
The Saybrook catalog automatically performs right truncated searches. In
a truncated search the catalog will search for words or phrases beginning
with the letters in your search term. Plurals formed by adding an 's' are
automatically included in your search. For more complex plurals or other
forms, truncate (cut) the word back to its root. For example, if you search
the root term SEX, the catalog will find records containing index terms
beginning with SEX such as SEXism, SEXuality, etc.
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Exact Terms
Adding a period (.) at the end of the term overrides the catalog's automatic
truncation. Adding a period after SEX will not return records containing
SEXISM or SEXUAL but only those records containing the word SEX.
Advanced Search
Click on Advanced Search in the collection of icons at the top right
of the catalog opening page. You will be presented with a new page containing
three text boxes, each followed by a drop down menu of indexes. You may
use one, two, or all three text boxes in your advanced searches.
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Boolean Searching
Between the first and second and the second and third text boxes are smaller
drop down menus which offer 'AND', 'OR.'
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'AND' between terms is the default; that is, records will be retrieved,
each of which has all the specified terms.
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If you wish to find all the documents that have any of the terms,
then use 'OR' between your search terms.
Example: humanistic or transpersonal psychology
Use Advanced Search when you need:
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To limit a search to an information category other than author, title and
subject. For example you might need to limit a search to a date, or a note.
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To specify a search using more than one search term.
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To browse a list of acceptable search terms.
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Browsing
The browsing index is a list of all the searchable terms in the catalog.
It includes both words and phrases.
Immediately to the right of the text box are three tiny buttons with
the word 'browse' written under them. This is actually one button and can
be used two ways.
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If you aren't sure of a search term, enter it in the text box and click
on the Browse button. The catalog will display a list of searchable
terms. To choose a search term from the list:
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Click on the search term.
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Click the Select button.
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You can also click on a browse button without entering anything in the
associated text box. This takes you to the browsing window. There you can
enter a term, part of a term, or as little as one letter in the text box.
When you click on the "Browse" button to the right of the text box, a list
of searchable terms will appear in the window below.
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PHF AUGUST 2000