Monday, September 18, 2017

Glossary additions integrated






INTRODUCTION

  • The Canadian Search Standards Working Group (CSSWG) has complied this glossary of terms to develop a standard lexicon for literature searching.
  • A search standard or code of practice, and a list of standard definitions facilitate coherent conversations among professionals.
  • This glossary contains more than 150+ terminologies used in the literature related to searching for health information.
  • For each definition, a relevant source or sources have been cited.

ADJACENCY OPERATOR - See proximity operator

ANALYZE

  • Definition: "...To examine an item or data set to identify patterns & relationships, e.g. Analyze the market so I know where my strengths and weaknesses are."
  • Source: Russell-Rose T, Makri S, A Model of Consumer Search Behaviour. In Wilson M, Russell Rose T, Larsen B, Kalbach J, (eds) Proceedings of the 2nd European Workshop on Human-Computer Interaction and Information Retrieval. Nijmegen, The Netherlands, August 25, 2012. Available from: https://isquared.wordpress.com/2012/09/18/a-model-of-consumer-search-behaviour/

AUTOMATIC TERM MAPPING

  • Definition: "...The process used to find a controlled vocabulary term. For example in PubMed it is used to match unqualified terms that are entered into the query box. If a match is found in any translation table, the mapping stops. When subject or journal matches are found, the query and individual terms are also searched in All Fields. If no match is found in any tables, terms are searched in All Fields and ANDed together."
  • Source: US National Library of Medicine, PubMed Tutorial Glossary Available from: https://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/disted/pubmedtutorial/glossary.html

BASIC INDEX

  • Definition: Index associated with fields that are searched when no field designations are stated.
  • Source: International Standards Organization Information and Documentation, commands for Interactive text searching; ISO 8777:1993, 3.1. Available from https://www.iso.org/obp/ui/

BERRYPICKING

  • Definition: "...A comparison to classic search in manual environments: a straight line leading to a single best retrieved set. Not to be confused with "cherry picking" Term falling out of use..."
  • Source: Bates M. The Design of Browsing and Berrypicking Techniques for the Online Search Interface. Online Review. 1989;13(5 ): 407-24. Available from: https://pages.gseis.ucla.edu/faculty/bates/berrypicking.html

"BIBBLE"

  • Definition: "...To look for a bibliography already prepared, before launching oneself into the effect of preparing one; more generally, to check to see if the search work one plans has already been done in a usable form by someone else.
  • Source: Bates M. Information Search Tactics. Journal of the American Society for Information Science. 1979;30: 205-214. Available from: http://pages.gseis.ucla.edu/faculty/bates/articles/Information%20Search%20Tactics.html

BOOLEAN LOGIC

  • Definition: System of logical operators to join sets. Standard Boolean operators used in searching are: "AND," "OR," and "NOT." Proximity operators imply "AND" and are another form of logical operator. Named after George Boole, a self-educated English mathematician.
  • Source: McGowan J, Sampson M, Salzwedel D, Cogo E, Foerster V, Lefebvre C. PRESS - Peer Review of Electronic Search Strategies Guideline: Explanation & Elaboration. Ottawa; 2016. Available from http://www.jclinepi.com/article/S0895-4356(16)00058-5/fulltext

BOOLEAN OPERATOR

  • Definition: "...A set of words (AND, OR, NOT, or proximity operators) used as conjunctions to combine or exclude keywords in a search strategy.

BOOLEAN SEARCH

  • Definition: A search strategy comprised of multiple search terms, usually divided into multiple search statements or sets (lines of terms), where the individual terms and search statements are combined using one or more of the Boolean operators (AND, OR, and NOT).
  • Source: McGowan J, Sampson M, Salzwedel D, Cogo E, Foerster V, Lefebvre C. PRESS - Peer Review of Electronic Search Strategies Guideline: Explanation & Elaboration. Ottawa; 2016. Available from http://www.jclinepi.com/article/S0895-4356(16)00058-5/fulltext

CHECK

CHAINING

  • Definition: "...Chaining (backward or forward chaining - following references in initial information sources)
  • Source: Ellis D, Cox D, Hall K. A Comparison of the Information Seeking Patterns of Researchers in the Physical and Social Sciences. Journal of Documentation 1993;49(4): 356–369. Available from: http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/abs/10.1108/eb026919

CITATION SEARCHING

  • Definition: Search method that can be done forward or backward in time. Forward citation searching retrieves records that have cited an item, also known as "cited by"; it is available from various resources. Backward citation searching involves records that an item has cited, also known as "checking references." See also "pearl harvesting", or "pearl growing."
  • Source: McGowan J, Sampson M, Salzwedel D, Cogo E, Foerster V, Lefebvre C. PRESS - Peer Review of Electronic Search Strategies Guideline: Explanation & Elaboration. Ottawa; 2016. Available from http://www.jclinepi.com/article/S0895-4356(16)00058-5/fulltext

COMMAND EXPRESSION

COMMAND NAME

  • Definition: Specially defined reserved word or abbreviation used to initiate a command expression.
  • Source: International Standards Organization Information and Documentation, commands for Interactive text searching; ISO 8777:1993, 3.3. Available from https://www.iso.org/obp/ui/

COMMAND SPECIFICATION see also COMMAND EXPRESSION 

  • Definition: String of characters following a command name, specifying how, and on what the command expression is to operate.   
  • Source: International Standards Organization Information and Documentation, commands for Interactive text searching; ISO 8777:1993, 3.4. Available from https://www.iso.org/obp/ui/

COMPARE

  • Definition: To identify similarities & differences within a set of items, e.g. Compare cars that are my possible candidates in detail.
  • Source: Russell-Rose T, Makri S, A Model of Consumer Search Behaviour. In Wilson M, Russell Rose T, Larsen B, Kalbach J, (eds) Proceedings of the 2nd European Workshop on Human-Computer Interaction and Information Retrieval. Nijmegen, The Netherlands, August 25, 2012. Available from: https://isquared.wordpress.com/2012/09/18/a-model-of-consumer-search-behaviour/

COMPREHEND

  • Definition: To generate independent insight by interpreting patterns within a data set, e.g. “Understand what my competitors are selling”.
  • Source: Russell-Rose T, Makri S, A Model of Consumer Search Behaviour. In Wilson M, Russell Rose T, Larsen B, Kalbach J, (eds) Proceedings of the 2nd European Workshop on Human-Computer Interaction and Information Retrieval. Nijmegen, The Netherlands, August 25, 2012. Available from: https://isquared.wordpress.com/2012/09/18/a-model-of-consumer-search-behaviour/

COMPREHENSIVE SEARCH

  • Definition: To discover all the published or otherwise available material…irrespective of form, date of publication, language or technical level”
  • Source: Hanson CW. Introduction to Science-Information Work. London: Aslib; 1971. pp.135.

CONCEPT

  • Definition: The basic building block of a theory
  • Source: Guyatt G, Rennie D, Meade M, Cook D. Users Guides to the Medical Literature, Essentials of Evidence Based Clinical Practice. 2nd ed. New York: The McGraw Hill Companies Inc; 2008.

CONCEPT MAP

  • Definition: Concept maps are graphical tools for organizing and representing knowledge.
  • Source: Novak J, Cañas A. The theory of concept maps and how to construct and use them. Available from: http://cmap.ihmc.us/docs/theory-of-concept-maps

CONNECTOR

  • Definition: Symbol used to link search terms and qualifiers.
  • Source: International Standards Organization Information and Documentation, commands for Interactive text searching; ISO 8777:1993, 3.5. Available from https://www.iso.org/obp/ui/

CONTRARY

  • Definition: To search for the term logically opposite from that describing the desired information. For example, one may want information on “cooperation” and, after an unsuccessful search, change the term to “competition.”
  • Source: Bates M. Information Search Tactics. Journal of the American Society for Information Science. 1979;30: 205-214. Available from: http://pages.gseis.ucla.edu/faculty/bates/articles/Information%20Search%20Tactics.html

CONTROLLED VOCABULARY

  • Definition: A consistent collection of terms chosen for specific purposes, with explicit logical constraints on intended meanings and relationships in a database. See also "Thesaurus."
  • Source: McGowan J, Sampson M, Salzwedel D, Cogo E, Foerster V, Lefebvre C. PRESS - Peer Review of Electronic Search Strategies Guideline: Explanation & Elaboration. Ottawa; 2016. Available from http://www.jclinepi.com/article/S0895-4356(16)00058-5/fulltext

CORRECT

CUT

DATABASE

  • Definition: Electronic Databases, (are) most typically bibliographic databases that can be used to speed up the process of study identification.
  • Source: Booth A, Papaioannou D, Sutton A. Systematic Approaches to a Successful Literature Review. London: Sage Publications Ltd; 2012.

DEFAULT

  • Definition: Value automatically assumed by the system, unless the user specifies a different value or values.                                                           
  • Source: International Standards Organization Information and Documentation, commands for Interactive text searching; ISO 8777:1993, 3.6. Available from https://www.iso.org/obp/ui/   

DESCRIPTORS

  • See - SUBJECT HEADINGS

DUPLICATE

  • Definition: A redundant record pointing to the same full-text article. Records are usually not identical, because they may come from different databases and may differ in the treatment of authors' names or journal titles, indexing, and special fields.
  • Source: McGowan J, Sampson M, Salzwedel D, Cogo E, Foerster V, Lefebvre C. PRESS - Peer Review of Electronic Search Strategies Guideline: Explanation & Elaboration. Ottawa; 2016. Available from http://www.jclinepi.com/article/S0895-4356(16)00058-5/fulltext

ENVIRONMENTAL SCAN

  • Definition: Environmental scanning focuses on the identification of emerging issues, situations, and potential pitfalls that may affect an organization’s future. … The information is used for planning and decision making.
  • Source: Albright K. Environmental Scanning: Radar for Success. Information Management Journal. 2004; May/June:38-44. Available from: https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/9dc6/f34546750bdd46c1eed333c562b898ac1b37.pdf

EVALUATE

  • Definition: To use judgment to determine the value of an item with respect to a specific goal, e.g. “I want to know whether my agency is delivering best value”.
  • Source: Russell-Rose T, Makri S, A Model of Consumer Search Behaviour. In Wilson M, Russell Rose T, Larsen B, Kalbach J, (eds) Proceedings of the 2nd European Workshop on Human-Computer Interaction and Information Retrieval. Nijmegen, The Netherlands, August 25, 2012. Available from: https://isquared.wordpress.com/2012/09/18/a-model-of-consumer-search-behaviour/

EXHAUST

EXPLODE

  • Definition: Subject headings are arranged hierarchically in many thesauri. To explode a subject heading involves including a selected subject heading and all of the narrower terms that are below it in the hierarchy.
  • Source: McGowan J, Sampson M, Salzwedel D, Cogo E, Foerster V, Lefebvre C. PRESS - Peer Review of Electronic Search Strategies Guideline: Explanation & Elaboration. Ottawa; 2016. Available from http://www.jclinepi.com/article/S0895-4356(16)00058-5/fulltext

EXPLORE

  • Definition: To investigate an item or data set for the purpose of knowledge discovery, e.g. “Find useful stuff on my subject topic”.
  • Source: Russell-Rose T, Makri S, A Model of Consumer Search Behaviour. In Wilson M, Russell Rose T, Larsen B, Kalbach J, (eds) Proceedings of the 2nd European Workshop on Human-Computer Interaction and Information Retrieval. Nijmegen, The Netherlands, August 25, 2012. Available from: https://isquared.wordpress.com/2012/09/18/a-model-of-consumer-search-behaviour/

FACTUAL SEARCH

  • See Quick / Ready Reference Search

FACTUAL QUESTIONS

  • Definition: Confirm a fact or answer a single question with a fact (=ready reference)
  • Source: Carter D, Janes J. Unobtrusive Data Analysis of Digital Reference Questions and Service at the Internet Public Library: An Exploratory Study. Library Trends. 2000;49( 2): 251-265

FALSE DROP

  • Definition: Jargon for noise in a system. In the early days of computerized information retrieval, documents were represented by punch cards. Punch card sorters were then programmed to separate those cards which represented relevant documents by dropping them into pockets. A card representing an unwanted document among the cards representing wanted documents constitute a false drop.
  • Source: Kent A, Lancour H, Nasri WZ, Daily JE. Encyclopedia of library and information science. New York: M Decker; 1968.

FIELD

  • Definition: As a subset of a record, structured data treated as a unit and used to store a particular type of data.
  • Source: International Standards Organization Information and Documentation, commands for Interactive text searching; ISO 8777:1993, 3.7. Available from https://www.iso.org/obp/ui/

FIELD LABEL 

  • Definition: String of characters used to uniquely identify a particular field defined in a record.
  • Source: International Standards Organization Information and Documentation, commands for Interactive text searching; ISO 8777:1993, 3.8. Available from https://www.iso.org/obp/ui/

FILE STRUCTURE TACTICS

  • Definition: Techniques used by searchers to thread one's way through the file structure of the information facility to desired file, source, or information within source….All indexing and classification systems provide a structure; the interest here is in the fact of the structure, not in the specific character of that structure. It is seen that the tactics, though they deal with threading one's way through the file structure, do so independently of particular systems of information organization.
  • Source: Bates M. Information Search Tactics. Journal of the American Society for Information Science. 1979;30: 205-214. Available from: http://pages.gseis.ucla.edu/faculty/bates/articles/Information%20Search%20Tactics.html

FILTER - SEARCH

  • Definition: A generic term for any collection of search terms designed to optimize retrieval from a bibliographical database. Such terms may be topical (ie. related to the subject content of items to be retrieved) or methodological (pertaining the methodology of retrieved items).
  • Source: Booth A, Papaioannou D, Sutton A. Systematic Approaches to a Successful Literature Review. London: Sage Publications Ltd; 2012

FILTER - METHODOLOGICAL

  • Definition: Standardized search strategies designed to retrieve studies of a particular methodology type.
  • Source: Booth A, Papaioannou D, Sutton A. Systematic Approaches to a Successful Literature Review. London: Sage Publications Ltd; 2012.

FIX

FLOATING SUBHEADINGS

  • Definition: Floating subheadings look for any subject heading that uses that subheading irrespective of which subject heading it is assigned to.
  • Source: McGowan J, Sampson M, Salzwedel D, Cogo E, Foerster V, Lefebvre C. PRESS - Peer Review of Electronic Search Strategies Guideline: Explanation & Elaboration. Ottawa; 2016. Available from http://www.jclinepi.com/article/S0895-4356(16)00058-5/fulltext

FREE TEXT

  • Definition: Normally words, phrases or terms sought in a title, abstract or full text of a document, but this varies by database and vendor. See also, "natural language" or "text words."
  • Source: McGowan J, Sampson M, Salzwedel D, Cogo E, Foerster V, Lefebvre C. PRESS - Peer Review of Electronic Search Strategies Guideline: Explanation & Elaboration. Ottawa; 2016. Available from http://www.jclinepi.com/article/S0895-4356(16)00058-5/fulltext

GREY LITERATURE

  • Definition: “Grey literature stands for manifold document types produced on all levels of government, academics, business and industry in print and electronic formats that are protected by intellectual property rights, of sufficient quality to be collected and preserved by library holdings or institutional repositories, but not controlled by commercial publishers i.e., where publishing is not the primary activity of the producing body.”

HEDGE

  • See Subject Hedge

HITS

  • Definition: In information retrieval, the number of records retrieved from a database that are relevant to the query. In some databases, the number of hits is indicated before records are displayed, to enable the user to modify the search statement before viewing search results. When zero hits are retrieved, the reason may be the misspelling of one or more search terms, a query that contains syntactical or semantic errors, or indexing of sources under a synonym or related term. Compare with false drop.
  • Source: Reitz JM; Online Dictionary for Library and Information Science (ODLIS). Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, LLC; 2017. Available from: http://www.abc-clio.com/ODLIS/odlis_a.aspx.

INFORMATION RETRIEVAL

  • Definition: A set of techniques and procedures used to specify and identify relevant items from a data source such as an electronic database.
  • Source: Booth A, Papaioannou D, Sutton A. Systematic Approaches to a Successful Literature Review. London: Sage Publications Ltd; 2012

INFORMATION RETRIEVAL SYSTEM

  • Definition: IR systems consist of sets of data or information, one or more indexes, a query interface, a search system and a results interface. There is some confusion between data retrieval, document retrieval, information and text retrieval — each has its own literature, theory and praxis.
  • Source: Giustini D.HLWIKI International. Available from: http://hlwiki.slais.ubc.ca/index.php/Information_retrieval [Accessed 15th June 2016]

IRRELEVANT

  • Definition: In this report irrelevant means "not meeting the inclusion criteria of the systematic review or HTA for which a search is developed."
  • Source: McGowan J, Sampson M, Salzwedel D, Cogo E, Foerster V, Lefebvre C. PRESS - Peer Review of Electronic Search Strategies Guideline: Explanation & Elaboration. Ottawa; 2016. Available from http://www.jclinepi.com/article/S0895-4356(16)00058-5/fulltext

ITERATIVE (SEARCH) PROCESS

  • Definition: A search for information in which the researcher or investigator repeatedly poses questions until an answer or solution is found.
  • Source: Reitz JM. Online Dictionary for Library and Information Science (ODLIS). Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, LLC; 2017. Available from: http://www.abc-clio.com/ODLIS/odlis_a.aspx.

JURISDICTIONAL REVIEW

  • Definition: Reviews that seek to provide an overview of policies, practices, legislations or regulations as observed through a range of jurisdictions. There are no guidelines available for the conduct of jurisdictional reviews. While jurisdictional reviews can answer the question, “what are others doing”, they usually do not consider the effectiveness of interventions.
  • Source: Hayden J, Babineau J, Killian L, Martin-Misener R, Carter A, Jensen J, Zygmunt A. Collaborative emergency centres: Rapid knowledge synthesis. Halifax, Nova Scotia: Nova Scotia Cochrane Resource Centre; 2012.

KEYWORD

  • Definition: The words and phrases that searchers enter into search systems to express their queries. The keywords users enter don't necessarily arise from a facet analysis and logical combination, and they vary in form, ranging from keywords and phrases, to sentences, questions and even whole paragraphs.
  • Source: Markey K. Online Searching, A Guide to finding quality information efficiently and effectively. Lanhan, Ohio: Rowman and Littlefield, 2015.

KNOWN ITEM SEARCH

  • Definition:  A search query that can be identified as being navigational, i.e., for a resource known or assumed to exist. Such queries are answered easily because they demand the one correct result only. 
  • Source: Behnert C, Lewandowski D. Known-Item Searches resulting in Zero Hits: Considerations for Discovery Systems. Journal of Academic Librarianship. 2017; 43(2):128-34.

LEMMATIZATION

  • Definition: The process of determining the lemma (2.12) for a given word form (2.24) in a context  EXAMPLE:  Given the word “found” in English, lemmatization results in “find” as its lemma.
  • Source: International Standards Organization Information and Documentation, commands for Interactive text searching; ISO 8777:1993, 3.8. Available from https://www.iso.org/obp/ui/

LITERATURE REVIEW

  • Definition: A systematic, explicit, and reproducible method for identifying, evaluating, and synthesizing the existing body of completed and recorded work produced by researchers, scholars, and practitioners.
  • Source: Fink, A. Conducting Research Literature Reviews: From the Internet to Paper. 2nd ed. London: Sage Publications Ltd; 2005.

LITERATURE SEARCH

  • Definition: A literature search is a systematic and explicit approach to the identification, retrieval, and bibliographic management of independent studies (usually drawn from published sources) for the purpose of locating information on a topic, synthesizing conclusions, identifying areas for future study, and developing guidelines for clinical practice.
  • Source: Auston I, Cahn MA, Selden CR. Literature Search Methods for the Development of Clinical Practice Guidelines. Forum Methodology Conference 13-16 December 1992 Agency for Health Care Policy and Research, Office of the Forum for Quality and Effectiveness in Health Care; 1992. Available from: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/nichsr/litsrch.html

LOCATE

  • Definition: To find a specific (possibly known) item, e.g. “Find my reading list items”.
  • Source: Russell-Rose T, Makri S, A Model of Consumer Search Behaviour. In Wilson M, Russell Rose T, Larsen B, Kalbach J, (eds) Proceedings of the 2nd European Workshop on Human-Computer Interaction and Information Retrieval. Nijmegen, The Netherlands, August 25, 2012. Available from: https://isquared.wordpress.com/2012/09/18/a-model-of-consumer-search-behaviour/

MAJOR HEADING

  • Definition: A subject heading designated as representing a main subject of the document being indexed. In some interfaces, the intention to retrieve only records where a term is assigned as a major heading is indicated by putting an asterisk in front of the term - sometimes known as "starring." Other interfaces may use terminology such as "restrict to focus"
  • Source: McGowan J, Sampson M, Salzwedel D, Cogo E, Foerster V, Lefebvre C. PRESS - Peer Review of Electronic Search Strategies Guideline: Explanation & Elaboration. Ottawa; 2016. Available from http://www.jclinepi.com/article/S0895-4356(16)00058-5/fulltext

MASKING

  • Definition: Symbolizing unknown or unspecified character(s) in a search term by special characters that are defined to represent any character or characters, no characters or blank spaces.      
  • Source: International Standards Organization Information and Documentation, commands for Interactive text searching; ISO 8777:1993, 3.9. Available from https://www.iso.org/obp/ui/

METADATA

  • Definition: Metadata is structured information that describes, explains, locates, or otherwise makes it easier to retrieve, use, or manage an information resource. Metadata is often called data about data or information about information. The term metadata is used differently in different communities. In the library environment, metadata is commonly used for any formal scheme of resource description, applying to any type of object, digital or non-digital. Traditional library cataloging is a form of metadata; MARC 21 and the rule sets used with it, such as AACR2, are metadata standards. Other metadata schemes have been developed to describe various types of textual and non-textual objects including published books, electronic documents, archival finding aids, art objects, educational and training materials, and scientific datasets.
  • Source: ANSI/NISO/ (2004). Understanding Metadata. http://www.niso.org/publications/press/UnderstandingMetadata.pdf

MONITOR

  • Definition: Maintain awareness of the status of an item for purposes of management or control, e.g. “Alert me to new resources in my area”.
  • Source: Russell-Rose T, Makri S, A Model of Consumer Search Behaviour. In Wilson M, Russell Rose T, Larsen B, Kalbach J, (eds) Proceedings of the 2nd European Workshop on Human-Computer Interaction and Information Retrieval. Nijmegen, The Netherlands, August 25, 2012. Available from: https://isquared.wordpress.com/2012/09/18/a-model-of-consumer-search-behaviour/

MONITORING TACTICS

NATURAL LANGUAGE TERM

  • Definition: Words, phrases or terms sought in the title, abstract, or full text of the document. See also "free text" or "text words."
  • Source: McGowan J, Sampson M, Salzwedel D, Cogo E, Foerster V, Lefebvre C. PRESS - Peer Review of Electronic Search Strategies Guideline: Explanation & Elaboration. Ottawa; 2016. Available from http://www.jclinepi.com/article/S0895-4356(16)00058-5/fulltext

NEGATIVE SEARCH

  • Definition:  A negative search is a research strategy discovery that nothing else has been published on a particular research topic. Also called null retrieval.
  • Source: Stielow F, Tibbo H. The negative search, online reference and the humanities: a critical essay in library literature. Research Quarterly. 1988;27(3):358-65.

NEIGHBOUR

NULL RETRIEVAL

  • Definition: A search retrieval set with no records.
  • Source: McGowan J, Sampson M, Salzwedel D, Cogo E, Foerster V, Lefebvre C. PRESS - Peer Review of Electronic Search Strategies Guideline: Explanation & Elaboration. Ottawa; 2016. Available from http://www.jclinepi.com/article/S0895-4356(16)00058-5/fulltext

OBSERVATIONAL STUDY

  • Definition: A research design that requires investigators do not intervene or control variables rather, they simply observe the course of events. Changes or differences in one characteristic (e.g. whether or not people received the intervention of interest) are studied in relation to changes or differences in other characteristic(s) (e.g. death), without action by the investigator. There is a greater risk of bias in observational studies than in experimental studies.
  • Source: The Cochrane Collaboration. Archive of the old Cochrane Community site, Glossary. Available from: http://community-archive.cochrane.org/glossary/5#lettero Accessed 12 June 2016

ONLINE SEARCH

  • Definition: Interactive search process via computer to as many databases as the searcher considers necessary to find the requested information.  
  • Source: International Standards Organization Information and Documentation, commands for Interactive text searching; ISO 8777:1993, 3.18. Available from https://www.iso.org/obp/ui/

OPERATING CHARACTERISTICS

  • Definition: The performance attributes, in this case, of a search strategy. Factors such as recall, precision and specificity are usually considered in the assessment of search performance.
  • Source: McGowan J, Sampson M, Salzwedel D, Cogo E, Foerster V, Lefebvre C. PRESS - Peer Review of Electronic Search Strategies Guideline: Explanation & Elaboration. Ottawa; 2016. Available from http://www.jclinepi.com/article/S0895-4356(16)00058-5/fulltext

OPERATOR

  • Definition: Reserved word or symbol used to specify the relationship between two entities being searched.
  • Source: International Standards Organization Information and Documentation, commands for Interactive text searching; ISO 8777:1993, 3.10. Available from https://www.iso.org/obp/ui/

PARALLEL

PARAMETER

  • Definition: Variable that is given a constant value for a specified application, and that may denote that application. 
  • Source: International Standards Organization Information and Documentation, commands for Interactive text searching; ISO 8777:1993, 3.11. Available from https://www.iso.org/obp/ui/

PATTERN

PEARL GROWING

  • Definition: The process of identifying a known, highly relevant article (the pearl) as a means to isolate terms on which a search can subsequently be based.
  • Source: Booth A, Papaioannou D, Sutton A. Systematic Approaches to a Successful Literature Review. London: Sage Publications Ltd; 2012

PEER REVIEW

  • Definition: The process of subjecting research work to an independent scrutiny of qualifies experts (peers); may be evaluated against certain standards (such as authorship guidelines). Often used as a quality control measure for important searches.
  • Source: McGowan J, Sampson M, Salzwedel D, Cogo E, Foerster V, Lefebvre C. PRESS - Peer Review of Electronic Search Strategies Guideline: Explanation & Elaboration. Ottawa; 2016. Available from http://www.jclinepi.com/article/S0895-4356(16)00058-5/fulltext

PICO

  • Definition:  An acronym for Population/ Intervention/ Comparison/ Outcome.Clinical searches are often derived from elements of structured clinical questions articulating "1)the patient or problem being addressed; 2) the intervention or exposure being considered; 3) the comparison intervention or exposure, when relevant; 4) the clinical outcomes of interest."
  • Source:   Richardson WS, Wilson, MC, Nishikawa J,Hayward RS. The well-built clinical question: a key to evidence-based decisions. ACP Journal Club. 2016;123(3):A12-13. Available from:  https://acpjc.acponline.org/Content/123/3/issue/ACPJC-1995-123-3-A12.htm

PINPOINT

PHRASE

  • Definition: Grammatically speaking, two or more words that convey a single concept or thought or that constitute a part of a sentence that does not contain a subject or predicate. An adjectival phrase is a noun modified by one or more adjectives (examples: digital archives and small press). In a prepositional phrase, two words are joined by a preposition (examples: gone to press and out of print).
  • Source: Reitz JM; Online Dictionary for Library and Information Science (ODLIS). Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, LLC; 2017. Available from: http://www.abc-clio.com/ODLIS/odlis_a.aspx.

PRECISION

  • Definition: The proportion of retrieved items that is relevant.The computational equivalent of the epidemiological term positive predictive value, a characteristic of a diagnostic test.
  • Source: McGowan J, Sampson M, Salzwedel D, Cogo E, Foerster V, Lefebvre C. PRESS - Peer Review of Electronic Search Strategies Guideline: Explanation & Elaboration. Ottawa; 2016. Available from http://www.jclinepi.com/article/S0895-4356(16)00058-5/fulltext

PRISMA FLOW DIAGRAM GENERATOR

  • Definition: A PRISMA Flow Diagram, described in the PRISMA Statement is a graphical representation of the flow of citations reviewed in the course of a Systematic Review. By using the recommended form one can produce a diagram easily in any of 10 different publication formats. The diagram is produced using the Open Source dot program (part of graphviz), and this tool provides the source for one's diagram if further tweaking is needed.
  • Source: Moher D, Liberati A, Tetzlaff J, Altman DG; The PRISMA Group. Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta- Analyses: The PRISMA Statement. PLoS Med. 2009; 6:7. Available from: e1000097. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed1000097 http://www.prisma-statement.org/documents/PRISMA%202009%20flow%20diagram.pdf

PROXIMITY OPERATOR

  • Definition: A special kind of Boolean operator used to search for occurrences of words adjacent to or within a certain number of words from another word (or group of words).
  • Source: Bramer W, Giustini D, Kramer B. Comparing the coverage, recall, and precision of searches for 120 systematic reviews in Embase, MEDLINE, and Google Scholar: a prospective study. Systematic Reviews Journal. 2016; 5: 39. Available from: doi: 10.1186/s13643-016-0215-7 PMCID: PMC4772334 http://systematicreviewsjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13643-016-0215-7

QUALIFIER

  • Definition: Parameter used to restrict or otherwise direct the range of values of a given variable. 
  • Source: International Standards Organization Information and Documentation, commands for Interactive text searching; ISO 8777:1993, 3.12. Available from https://www.iso.org/obp/ui/

QUERY

  • Definition: A request submitted as input in a search of an online catalog or bibliographic database to retrieve records or documents relevant to the user's information need(s). Some information storage and retrieval systems allow queries to be submitted in natural language, but most systems require the user to formulate search statements in the artificial language used for indexing and in syntax acceptable to the search software. The query is an approximation of the information need that provides the impetus for the search.
  • Source: Reitz JM; Online Dictionary for Library and Information Science (ODLIS). Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, LLC; 2017. Available from: http://www.abc-clio.com/ODLIS/odlis_a.aspx.

QUICK EDUCATION

  • Definition: To provide a client with a dozen or so items which constitute a good introduction to a field of interest (e.g. published lit review plus 4 current articles)
  • Source: Bates M. , Rigorous Systematic Bibliography. Reference Quarterly. 1976 16 (Fall): 7-26.

QUICK / READY REFERENCE SEARCH

  • Definition: To search for simple facts and/or figures.
  • Source: Hanson CW. Introduction to Science-Information Work. London: Aslib; 1971. pp.135.

RANGING OPERATOR

  • Definition: Operator that assigns ranges of consecutive values between two search terms.
  • Source: International Standards Organization Information and Documentation, commands for Interactive text searching; ISO 8777:1993, 3.10.3. Available from https://www.iso.org/obp/ui/

RE-ARRANGE

RECALL  

  • Definition: (see also SENSITIVITY.)   The proportion of relevant items in a database retrieved by a search; usually known only in experimental situations, although it can be estimated by statistical methods such as capture-mark-recapture. Most searches for systematic reviews and HTA try to achieve the highest practical recall, often at the expense of precision.
  • Source: McGowan J, Sampson M, Salzwedel D, Cogo E, Foerster V, Lefebvre C. PRESS - Peer Review of Electronic Search Strategies Guideline: Explanation & Elaboration. Ottawa; 2016. Available from http://www.jclinepi.com/article/S0895-4356(16)00058-5/fulltext

RECORD (NOUN)

  • Definition: An account of something, put down in writing, usually as a means of documenting facts for legal or historical purposes. Also, to make such an account. In a narrower sense, a formal document in which the content is presented in a named set of standardized data elements treated as a single unit, for example, a certificate, deed, lease, etc. In archives, a document created or received, and subsequently maintained, by an institution, organization, or individual in the transaction of official or personal business or in fulfillment of a legal obligation.
  • Source: Reitz JM; Online Dictionary for Library and Information Science (ODLIS). Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, LLC; 2017. Available from: http://www.abc-clio.com/ODLIS/odlis_a.aspx.

RECORD (VERB)

REDUNDANT

  • Definition: A search element that retrieves no additional records.
  • Source: McGowan J, Sampson M, Salzwedel D, Cogo E, Foerster V, Lefebvre C. PRESS - Peer Review of Electronic Search Strategies Guideline: Explanation & Elaboration. Ottawa; 2016. Available from http://www.jclinepi.com/article/S0895-4356(16)00058-5/fulltext

REDUCE

RELATE

RELEVANCE / RELEVANCY

  • Definition: The extent to which information retrieved in a search of a library collection or other resource, such as an online catalog or bibliographic database, is judged by the user to be applicable to ("about") the subject of the query. Relevance depends on the searcher's subjective perception of the degree to which the document fulfills the information need, which may or may not have been expressed fully or with precision in the search statement. Measures of the effectiveness of information retrieval, such as precision and recall, depend on the relevance of search results. Compare with pertinence.
  • Source: Reitz JM; Online Dictionary for Library and Information Science (ODLIS). Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, LLC; 2017. Available from: http://www.abc-clio.com/ODLIS/odlis_a.aspx.

RESERVED WORD

  • Definition: Word, abbreviation or symbol that has a special meaning defined explicitly in the command language.  
  • Source: International Standards Organization Information and Documentation, commands for Interactive text searching; ISO 8777:1993, 3.14. Available from https://www.iso.org/obp/ui/

RESPACE

RESPELL

RESTORATION MARK

  • Definition: Symbol used to restore the literal meaning of a defined reserved word.
  • Source: International Standards Organization Information and Documentation, commands for Interactive text searching; ISO 8777:1993, 3.15. Available from https://www.iso.org/obp/ui/

RESULT SET  see also SEARCH RESULT 

  • Definition: Group of records retrieved by a search statement. 
  • Source: International Standards Organization Information and Documentation, commands for Interactive text searching; ISO 8777:1993, 3.16. Available from https://www.iso.org/obp/ui/

RESULT SET IDENTIFIER

  • Definition: Label assigned by the system or by the user to a result set. The result set identifier for a given search statement is identical to its search statement identifier. 
  • Source: International Standards Organization Information and Documentation, commands for Interactive text searching; ISO 8777:1993, 3.17. Available from https://www.iso.org/obp/ui/

SCOPE CREEP

  • Definition: Uncontrolled changes over time to a project’s aims, direction, scale and / or timescale and, more specifically the gradual, unchecked expansion of the project’s objectives.
  • Source: Saunders, L. The policy and organizational context for commissioned research. British Educational Research Association. London: TLRP.29-11-2010. (Online link no longer available except within the British Library)

SCOPING SEARCH

  • Definition: A literature search that seeks to determine rapidly and efficiently the scale of a predefined topic to inform the subsequent conduct of a review.
  • Source: Booth A, Papaioannou D, Sutton A. Systematic Approaches to a Successful Literature Review. London: Sage Publications Ltd; 2012

SEARCH - FOR A FEW REPRESENTATIVE… TEXTS

  • Definition: Unless stated otherwise, treat this as a request for from two to four representative, summarizing or introductory texts, probably review articles or relevant chapters in recent books at the technical level appropriate to the individual enquirer. Possibly out of date terminology.
  • Source: Hanson CW. Introduction to Science-Information Work. London: Aslib; 1971. pp.135.

SEARCH COMMAND  See Command Expression

SEARCH ELEMENT

  • Definition: Search term, or Boolean combination of search terms to be searched in the same index, and its qualifier or qualifiers (the qualifier may be implicit), or a result set identifier, or terms selected from the display resulting from a SCAN or RELATE command expression.
  • Source: International Standards Organization Information and Documentation, commands for Interactive text searching; ISO 8777:1993, 3.19. Available from https://www.iso.org/obp/ui/

SEARCH FRAMEWORK

SEARCH MOVES

  • Definition: Moves, or changes in query formulation, are made to resolve three problem situations: (1) when retrieved sets are too large; (2) when they are too small; or (3) when retrieved sets are off-target.
  • Source: Raya Fidel, (1985) "Moves in online searching", Online Review, Vol. 9 Issue: 1, pp.61-74. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1108/eb024176  

SEARCH OPERATIONS /OPERATORS

  • Definition: A reserved word or symbol used to specify the relationship between two entities being searched for, except in the case of a ranging operator, where only one entity is involved. Operators include: Boolean operators: the logical operators And, Or, Not, indicate that a Boolean function is to be performed on two search terms or search elements.... Proximity operators specify the relative position and distance between two search terms in the term to be retrieved. Ranging operators indicate that all values related quantitatively to the immediately following term are to be retrieved.
  • Source: ANSI/NISO. Z39.58 Common Command Language for Online Interactive Information Retrieval. Bethesda, Maryland: NISO Press; 1992. Available from: http://www.niso.org/apps/group_public/download.php/6567/Common%20Command%20Language%20for%20Online%20Interactive%20Information%20Retrieval.pdf

SEARCH PERFORMANCE

  • Definition: A measure of recall, precision, specificity, cost, or time.
  • Source: McGowan J, Sampson M, Salzwedel D, Cogo E, Foerster V, Lefebvre C. PRESS - Peer Review of Electronic Search Strategies Guideline: Explanation & Elaboration. Ottawa; 2016. Available from http://www.jclinepi.com/article/S0895-4356(16)00058-5/fulltext

SEARCH RESULT

  • Definition: The references (or the number thereof) provided by a certain database that fulfill the criteria of a search strategy.
  • Source: Bramer W, Giustini D, Kramer B. Comparing the coverage, recall, and precision of searches for 120 systematic reviews in Embase, MEDLINE, and Google Scholar: a prospective study. Systematic Reviews Journal. 2016; 5: 39. Available from: doi: 10.1186/s13643-016-0215-7 PMCID: PMC4772334 http://systematicreviewsjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13643-016-0215-7

SEARCH STATEMENT see also COMMAND EXPRESSION 

  • Definition: Command specification of a particular FIND command.
  • Source: International Standards Organization Information and Documentation, commands for Interactive text searching; ISO 8777:1993, 3.20. Available from https://www.iso.org/obp/ui/

SEARCH STATEMENT IDENTIFIER

  • Definition: Label assigned by the system to each search statement.
  • Source: International Standards Organization Information and Documentation, commands for Interactive text searching; ISO 8777:1993, 3.21. Available from https://www.iso.org/obp/ui/

SEARCH STRATEGY 

  • Definition: Series of command expressions intended to satisfy a request for information. A search strategy may include a variety of database selection commands, term identification commands and search and display commands.    
  • Source: International Standards Organization Information and Documentation, commands for Interactive text searching; ISO 8777:1993, 3.22. Available from https://www.iso.org/obp/ui/

SEARCH TACTIC

SEARCH TERM

  • Definition: A word or phrase representing one of the main concepts in a research topic, used alone or in combination with other terms in a search statement, to query an online catalog, bibliographic database, or search engine and retrieve relevant information. A search term can be a keyword or phrase supplied by the user, an authorized subject heading or descriptor selected from a prescribed list, or a word or phrase found in a thesaurus, for example, The Contemporary Thesaurus of Search Terms and Synonyms by Sara Knapp (Oryx, 2000).
  • Source: Reitz JM; Online Dictionary for Library and Information Science (ODLIS). Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, LLC; 2017. Available from: http://www.abc-clio.com/ODLIS/odlis_a.aspx.

SEARCH WORD

  • Definition: Word or group of words that the FIND command instructs the system to retrieve. A search term contains search words and may contain proximity operators but does not include Boolean operators ranging operators or qualifiers.
  • Source: International Standards Organization Information and Documentation, commands for Interactive text searching; ISO 8777:1993, 3.24. Available from https://www.iso.org/obp/ui/

SELECT

SENSITIVITY

  • Definition: A diagnostic term, appropriated by information retrieval, to refer to the capacity of a search strategy to identify all relevant items (i.e. not missing any relevant items) on a particular topic.
  • Source: Booth A, Sutton A, Papaioannou D. Systematic Approaches to a Successful Literature Review. London: Sage Publications Ltd; 2016

SEPARATOR

  • Definition: Character or series of characters used to set apart components of a command expression. Space, colon, semicolon and parentheses are defined in this International Standard as separators.
  • Source: International Standards Organization Information and Documentation, commands for Interactive text searching; ISO 8777:1993, 3.25. Available from https://www.iso.org/obp/ui/

SESSION

  • Definition: All transactions between user and system from logon to logoff. 
  • Source: International Standards Organization Information and Documentation, commands for Interactive text searching; ISO 8777:1993, 3.26. Available from https://www.iso.org/obp/ui/

SITE-ATION PEARL GROWING

  • Definition: Citation pearl growing is the process of using the characteristics of a relevant and authoritative article, called a pearl, to search for other relevant and authoritative materials. Site-ation pearl growing is the parallel process of using the characteristics of a relevant and authoritative Website to search for other relevant and authoritative Websites.
  • Source: Ramer SL. Site-ation pearl growing: methods and librarianship history and theory.   Journal of the Medical Library Association.  2005; 93(3): 397–400.   Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1175807/

SOURCE

  • Definition: Any document that provides information sought by a writer, researcher, library user, or person searching an online catalog or bibliographic database. Also refers to a document that provides information copied or reproduced in another document, for example, a quotation or excerpt. In literature, the story, legend, or work that inspires or provides elements of plot or characterization for another literary work, for example, the chronicles of English history on which William Shakespeare based some of his history plays.
  • Source: Reitz JM; Online Dictionary for Library and Information Science (ODLIS). Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, LLC; 2017. Available from: http://www.abc-clio.com/ODLIS/odlis_a.aspx.

SPECIFIC DETAIL SEARCH

  • Definition: To select only the precise information wanted. (The same as the Level I search noted below - To search for simple facts and/or figures.)
  • Source: Hanson CW. Introduction to Science-Information Work. London: Aslib; 1971.

SPECIFICITY

  • Definition: A diagnostic term, appropriated by information retrieval, to refer to the capacity of a search strategy to identify only relevant items (i.e. not retrieving any irrelevant items) on a particular topic.
  • Source: Booth A, Sutton A, Papaioannou D. Systematic Approaches to a Successful Literature Review. London: Sage Publications Ltd; 2016

SPECIFY

STEMMING AND LEMMATIZATION

  • Definition: For grammatical reasons, documents are going to use different forms of a word, such as organize, organizes, and organizing. Additionally, there are families of derivationally related words with similar meanings, such as democracy, democratic, and democratization. In many situations, it seems as if it would be useful for a search for one of these words to return documents that contain another word in the set.
    The goal of both stemming and lemmatization is to reduce inflectional forms and sometimes derivationally related forms of a word to a common base form. 
    Source:   Manning CD, Raghavan P,  Schütze H. Introduction to Information Retrieval. Cambridge University Press; 2008. Available from: http://informationretrieval.org/

STOPWORD

  • Definition: Word ignored by the indexing of a particular database. 
  • Source: International Standards Organization Information and Documentation, commands for Interactive text searching; ISO 8777:1993, 3.27. Available from https://www.iso.org/obp/ui/

STRATEGY

  • See Search Strategy

STRETCH

SUB

SUBJECT HEADING

  • Definition: The most specific word or phrase that describes the subject, or one of the subjects, of a work, selected from a list of preferred terms (controlled vocabulary) and assigned as an added entry in the bibliographic record to serve as an access point in the library catalog. A subject heading may be subdivided by the addition of subheadings (example: Libraries--History--20th century) or include a parenthetical qualifier for semantic clarification, as in Mice (Computers).
  • Source: Reitz JM; Online Dictionary for Library and Information Science (ODLIS). Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, LLC; 2017. Available from: http://www.abc-clio.com/ODLIS/odlis_a.aspx.

SUBJECT HEDGE

  • Definition: Subject hedges are lists of terms related to a particular subject used to supplement or replace controlled vocabulary and supporting documentation. Subject hedges can greatly improve the quality and accuracy of a mediated search on MEDLINE or any other database.
  • Source: Klatt MJ; An aid for total quality searching: developing a hedge book. Bulletin of the Medical Library Association; 1994. Available from: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC225972/pdf/mlab00109-0098.pdf

SUPER

SURVEY

SYNTAX

  • Definition: Every search engine has its own syntax for submitting the search request. In most cases, the search request syntax is not obvious and users typically have to refer to search engine documentation or help topics for the correct search request syntax supported by that particular search engine. For example, some search engines support syntax operators, keywords, or characters such as “+”, “−”, “and”, “or”, “near”, “before” etc. for submitting a search request term.
  • Source: Kethireddy A; User interface and method for providing search query syntax help. IFI CLAIMS Patent Services US; 2006. Available from: https://www.google.com/patents/US7062711

SYNTHESIZE

  • Definition: Synthesis involves “the contextualization and integration of research findings of individual research studies within the larger body of knowledge on the topic” For example: the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews provides access to systematic reviews of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of treatments completed by groups of the international Cochrane Collaboration. Authors find, appraise and synthesize evidence from studies (RCTs). Conclusions about treatment effectiveness are summarized; summaries provide a view of the evidence so that others see patterns and trends in the data.
  • Source: Grimshaw J; A Guide to Knowledge Synthesis A Knowledge Synthesis Chapter. Ottawa, ON, Canada: Canadian Institutes for Health Research; 8 Apr 2010. Available from: http://www.cihr-irsc.gc.ca/e/41382.html

SYSTEMATIC

  • Definition: Done or acting according to a fixed plan or system; methodical: ‘a systematic search of the whole city’ For example: the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews provides access to systematic reviews of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) completed by groups of the international Cochrane Collaboration. Authors find, appraise and synthesize evidence from studies (RCTs). Conclusions about effectiveness are summarized.
  • Source: Oxford Dictionaries online. Available from: http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/systematic

SYSTEMATIC REVIEW

  • Definition: A review of a clearly formulated question that uses systematic and explicit methods to identify, select, and critically appraise relevant research, and to collect and analyze data from the studies that are included in the review. Statistical methods (meta-analysis) may or may not be used to analyze and summarize the results of the included studies. A systematic review differs from a traditional literature review in that a literature review only describes and appraises previous work, and but does not specify the methods by which the reviewed studies were identified, selected, or evaluated.
  • Source: Rychetnik L, Hawe P, Waters E, Barratt A, Frommer M. A glossary for evidence based public health. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 2004;58:538-545. Available from: http://jech.bmj.com/content/58/7/538.full

SYSTEMATIC SEARCH

  • Definition: A thorough search of a broad range of sources found from source lists of similar topic reviews to identify relevant studies to your research question. 5 stages of the search include: scoping search, the search, bibliographic searching, verification (ie consultation with experts), documenting the search. A thorough, objective and reproducible search of a range of sources to ID as many relevant studies as possible within resource limits.
  • Source: Higgins JPT, Green S (editors). Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions Version 5.1.0 [updated March 2011]. The Cochrane Collaboration, 2011. Available from http://handbook.cochrane.org.

TERM

  • See Search term

TEXT WORD

  • Definition: Words phrases or items sought in a title, abstract, or full text of a document. See also "free text" or "natural language.
  • Source: McGowan J, Sampson M, Salzwedel D, Cogo E, Foerster V, Lefebvre C. PRESS - Peer Review of Electronic Search Strategies Guideline: Explanation & Elaboration. Ottawa; 2016. Available from http://www.jclinepi.com/article/S0895-4356(16)00058-5/fulltext

THEORETICAL SATURATION

  • Definition: The point within an interpretive review at which all data can be coded into an existing category; new categories are not emerging, and the existing category structure appears stable or secure.
  • Source: Booth A, Papaioannou D, Sutton A. Systematic Approaches to a Successful Literature Review. London: Sage Publications Ltd; 2012

THESAURUS

  • Definition: A list of words showing similarities, differences, dependencies and other relationships to each other; and mapping words used by database users to the actual words utilized by the constructors of the database.
  • Source: Booth A, Papaioannou D, Sutton A. Systematic Approaches to a Successful Literature Review. London: Sage Publications Ltd; 2012

TOPIC

  • Definition: A subject for research or discussion. The first step in a library research project is the formulation of a workable topic statement. As a literature search progresses, the topic may require refinement (change of specificity or focus), depending on the amount of published information available and the time constraints of the researcher. See also: search strategy.
  • Source: Reitz JM; Online Dictionary for Library and Information Science (ODLIS). Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, LLC; 2017. Available from: http://www.abc-clio.com/ODLIS/odlis_a.aspx.

TRACE

TRUNCATION

  • Definition: A truncation symbol is a character (determined by the database, such as an asterisk or a dollar sign) which can be substituted, when searching databases or search engines, for various endings of the stem of a word (e.g. organi* for organization, organisation, organized, organised).
  • Source: Booth A, Papaioannou D, Sutton A. Systematic Approaches to a Successful Literature Review. London: Sage Publications Ltd; 2012

VARY

  • Definition: To inform new research or appraise research. (To see what has been done, what gaps exist, to choose a research area. To inform research design, analysis, discussion and conclusions with existing research methods, findings, theories, frame-works. To synthesize or critically evaluate existing research.
  • Source: Bates M. Information search tactics. Journal of the American Society for Information Science. 1979;30: 205-214. Available from: http://pages.gseis.ucla.edu/faculty/bates/articles/Information%20Search%20Tactics.html

VERIFY

  • Definition: To confirm that an item meets some specific, objective criterion, e.g. “See the correct price for singles and deals”.
  • Source: Russell-Rose T, Makri S, A Model of Consumer Search Behaviour. In Wilson M, Russell Rose T, Larsen B, Kalbach J, (eds) Proceedings of the 2nd European Workshop on Human-Computer Interaction and Information Retrieval. Nijmegen, The Netherlands, August 25, 2012. Available from: https://isquared.wordpress.com/2012/09/18/a-model-of-consumer-search-behaviour/

WEBSITE

  • Definition: A group of related, interlinked Web pages installed on a Web server and accessible 24 hours a day to Internet users equipped with browser software. Most Web sites are created to represent the online presence of a company, organization, or institution or are the work of a group or individual. The main page or welcome screen, called the homepage, usually displays the title of the site, the name of the person (or persons) responsible for creating and maintaining it, and date of last update. Also spelled Website and website.
  • Source:Reitz JM; Online Dictionary for Library and Information Science (ODLIS). Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, LLC; 2017. Available from: http://www.abc-clio.com/ODLIS/odlis_a.aspx.

WEIGH

WILDCARD

  • Definition: In some bibliographic databases and search engines, the search software allows the user to insert a special character in the middle of a search term used in a keyword(s) search, to retrieve records or sites containing words with any character or no character in the position, useful for retrieving irregular plurals and variant spellings of a word. Example wom#n or wom?n to retrieve records containing woman or women. The wildcard symbol is not standardized. Users are advised to read the help screen(s) in an unfamiliar interface to see if wildcard is available and if so, what symbol is used. See also Truncation. 
  • Source:Reitz JM; Online Dictionary for Library and Information Science (ODLIS). Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, LLC; 2017. Available from: http://www.abc-clio.com/ODLIS/odlis_a.aspx.

WORD

  • Definition: Character or characters preceded and followed by separators. The characters may be alphanumeric or symbols.
  • Source: International Standards Organization Information and Documentation, commands for Interactive text searching; ISO 8777:1993, 3.30. Available from https://www.iso.org/obp/ui/

Search types: Definitions and examples

Search Level I

  • Definition: To bridge an information gap with a needed fact (e.g. "What is the current best practice for Newborn Blood Spot Screening?").
  • Source: working definition as of 2017-03, Canadian Search Standards Working Group.

Search Level II

  • Definition: To increase an individual's own understanding of an issue (e.g. "What are the leading cancer research organizations, including their structure and their success?").
  • Source: working definition as of 2017-03, Canadian Search Standards Working Group.

Search Level III

  • Definition: To gather content for education such as lectures, workshops, presentation (e.g. "Breast density legislation and breast cancer screening"). To find information to apply immediately for an individual patient's care (e.g. "What is the correct position of restraints or belts for brain-injured patients"?). To support a decision to purchase a product or resource (e.g. Are mailed FIT tests an effective means to increase awareness of colorectal cancer screening?"). To inform a student assignment such as a term-paper or an essay (e.g. "What are the Current Smoking Cessation Strategies among Aboriginal Youth"?). To write an internal report or other internal document or policy (e.g. "Identify and implement a new clinical information system such as a continuing care portfolio"). For non clinical organizational planning (e.g. "Developing a facilitator competency framework to lead healthcare change"). To help inform the creation of patient education (e.g. "Enhancing patient engagement in chronic disease self-management").
  • Source: working definition as of 2017-03, Canadian Search Standards Working Group.

Search Level IV

  • Definition: To inform a publication - academic or research journal or grey literature (e.g. "Combined open and endovascular treatment of thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysms"). To inform research proposals (e.g. "CIHR grant application").
  • Source: working definition as of 2017-03, Canadian Search Standards Working Group.

Search Level V

  • Definition: To develop clinical guidelines (e.g. "For diagnosis, staging, treatment, and follow-up of cancer"). To inform research to support a systematic review, meta-analysis or HTA etc. (e.g. "What are the benefits of exercise for prostate cancer survivors?").
  • Source: working definition as of 2017-03, Canadian Search Standards Working Group.
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