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Searching
Dialog: Useful Resources for Searching
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Scope
- Dialog offers numerous print and
online tools for searching its databases.
- Most of the online tools are
available at thru the Dialog
Library:
Print Tools - On
Reserve
- Dialog Pocket Guide
- This provides all of the basic
search functions that you will need to successfully search
Dialog.
- Each
student in the LT-65 class can check out a copy to the end of
the Winter Quarter.
- Complete Database Catalog
(1997)
- Dialog is no longer printing
this catalog, but it provides:
- A brief description of each
database in Dialog and its European Datastar
service.
- OneSearch and DIALINDEX
catagories.
- Alphabetical, subject, and
database number indexes.
- The catalog is available on
line. See link in the Online Tools below.
Online Tools
Include:
- DIALOG
Bluesheets (File 415)
- Each database on Dialog has a
corresponding "bluesheet" information sheet.
- Each bluesheet provides you
with the 98% of the information you need to search any specific
database on Dialog.
- A set of these is on
Reserve.
- You can also read or download
them for free at http://library.dialog.com/bluesheets
- Search
Aids
- These include Web pages and
documents for using Dialog services and searching its
databases.
- The page includes many
Subject- and Database-specific guides.
- http://library.dialog.com/search_aids.html
- The guides include:
- Dialog
Pocket Guide
- This is the general
guide for searching Dialog.
- http://support.dialog.com/searchaids/dialog/pocketguide/
- Successful
Searching on Dialog
- This is an extensive
manual, consisting of 277 pages in a print
version.
- http://library.dialog.com/success/
- Dialog
Search Summary Quick Reference
Card,
- This is a single Web
page that provides a quick summary of major functions and
operations.
- http://library.dialog.com/products/4068/
- Dialog
New User Guide
- This Web pages provides
links to a number of tools to help news users search
Dialog, including the tutorials below.
- http://library.dialog.com/products/dialog_new_user/index.shtml
- Worldwide
Database Catalog
- Provides detailed
descriptions of Dialog and DataStar
databases.
- http://library.dialog.com/dbcat/
- Smart
Tools
- Guides to searching in
the following specific subject areas:
- Intellectual Property
- Biomedicine &
Pharmaceuticals
- Engineering &
Technology
- Company Intelligence
- Chemistry
- Products &
Markets
- http://library.dialog.com/smart_tools/index.html
- Tutorials
- DialogWeb
2.0 Tutorial
- This tutorial is aimed at
searchers of DialogWeb (the Web-based version)
- http://products.dialog.com/products/dialogweb/tutorial/
- Hot
Copy: Searching DIALOG®
Tutorial
- This is a downloadable
tutorial.
- There are versions that run
on Windows95/98/NT or Windows 3.1.
- http://training.dialog.com/tours/hotcopy
Other Useful
Online Tools
- DialIndex
(File 411)
- This is a collection of the
field indexes for most DIALOG databases.
- Remember that each word
(except "stop" words such as "and," "a," "the,") in each field
of every database is indexed. The index becomes a list of all
of the locations of a specific word in all of the
databases.
- Thus, DIALINDEX
enables the searcher to find out how many times a word occurs
in various databases, thus
helping the searcher to decide what databases to
search.
- Bluesheet:
http://library.dialog.com/bluesheets/html/bl0411.html
- Dialog Finder
Files (Files 413, 414, 416)
- Chronolog
newsletter
- A bimonthly newsletter about
Dialog and its database products and services.
- Available printed and online
at http://library.dialog.com/chron/
- It is available in HTML and
the Acrobat or Portable Document Format (PDF)
Other Useful
Offline Tools
- DIALOG sells individual
database-specific manuals that provide much more information on
using each database.
- Many of the database publishers
offer manuals and thesauri for specific databases, some with
prices exceeding $100.
- DialogLink software for Windows
or the Macintosh
- Provides a graphical interface
for searching DIALOG databases.
-
optimized for Netscape & 800x600
display