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Alerts
Alerts provide users with e-mail notification of updates to the Information Bridge in specific areas of interest.
- In order to receive Alerts, you must register.
- For assistance with Alerts, please see the Alerts
Help and Alerts
FAQ.
Basic Search
Enter your search term (s) in the search box and your search will be conducted
on all available indexed fields, including full text.
Fielded Search
Sorting
Your search results will be sorted in ascending or descending order based on
your 'Sort By' selection. The default is Relevance descending.
Term Searching
Enter your search criteria into as few or as many fields as desired. Field
choices are:
- All Fields, which searches all the fields in the bibliographic citation
plus full-text pages
- Bibliographic Data, which searches all the fields in the bibliographic
citation
- Full Text, which searches full-text pages
- Title
- Creator/Author
- Subject
- Identifier numbers, which searches all the number fields, including the
identifier, the report number(s), the DOE contract number, and other numbers.
- Conference information
- Patent information
- Research Organization
- Sponsoring Organization
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Author Select
- Assists in identifying variation(s) of an author's name
- Can be used to identify multiple authors
- Selected author(s) are 'submitted' to Fielded Search
Subject Select
- Assists in identifying terms for subject searches
- Controlled vocabulary is in a hierarchical structure
- Selected term(s) are 'submitted' to Fielded Search
Limit To
- You may limit your search results by selecting 'Matches with electronic
documents', entering Publication and/or System Entry Dates, selecting a
pre-defined Type from the Drop-down menu, entering a Type, and/or selecting
'Return exact count of matches with link to bibliographic citations'.
- More than one Type may be selected and/or entered using Boolean
operators.
- Pre-defined types are: Book, Conference, Miscellaneous,
Patent, Patent Application, Software Manual, Technical Report, and Thesis/Dissertation.
Date Searching
- Enter the beginning date (From) and ending date (To) of your selected
date range in the spaces provided.
- Enter a 4 digit year (YYYY), a 2 digit month(MM), and a 2 digit day (DD).
- You may enter a year only or a year and month only.
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Search Tips
General
- Searching for individual terms does not require a special syntax. For
example, a search for DOG will return all results that
contain the term DOG.
- Multiple words entered as search terms must all be contained in the field(s)
searched in order to be returned in the search results. For example, a
search on DOG CAT will find results that contain both DOG and CAT.
- Special term prefix syntax, used by some search engines such as Alta
Vista, is not supported. For example, searching on +DOG -CAT will
only return results that contain both +DOG and -CAT.
Neither of these terms is likely to occur.
- Example: quark
Case Sensitivity
- Search terms in the Information Bridge are case insensitive.
A term entered in either upper case, lower case, or mixed case will find/match
terms that are in the bibliographic citation and/or the full text in upper
case, lower case, and/or mixed case.
- Example: Searching for Quark, quark, QUARK, or quARK will
return the same results.
Drop-down Menus
- To assist you in formulating search strategies, Drop-down Menus have
been created for Sort By, Relevancy, Type, and other items with pre-defined
choices.
- Drop-down menus list standardized values that are valid choices. You
can select one or more value from the Drop-Down Menu.
- To select a standardized value, click on the value(s) you want to include
in your strategy.
- To select multiple values, click again on the same drop-down arrow and
make an additional selection. Repeat until all desired values are selected.
Number Searching
- For bibliographic citation fields, the best search results can be obtained
by entering numbers without any punctuation or spaces. Enter only alpha-numeric
characters.
- Example: Searching for doeeh0601 will return
DOE/EH-0601.
- Numbers are not specifically indexed/available for searches in the full
text. Although some numbers may be searchable if they are surrounded by
delimiters such as parenthesis, full text searching for numbers is not
recommended.
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Wildcard Operators
- The asterisk (*) is used as a multi-character wildcard
for term expansion.
- A search for NUCLE* will return results that contain
terms such as NUCLEAR, NUCLEUS, NUCLEOPROTEIN. Term
expansion using the multi-character wildcard is limited, and will
result in a search error if the term is too vague (an expansion error).
Vagueness depends on the density of the known portion of the word
(NUCLE in this example). If a search results in
an expansion error, more characters will be required in order to
more uniquely identify the desired terms. For example, a search on N* will
likely result in a term expansion error.
- An asterisk may be used inside a string of characters. For example,
a search for H*GENOUS will return results that contain
terms such as HOMOGENOUS and HETEROGENEOUS.
- Asterisks may not be used as the beginning of a term. For example,
a search for *ETERGENOUS will result in an error.
- Example: Searching for batter* will return
matches with the term batter and/or with the term battery and/or
with the term batteries.
- The question mark (?) is used as a single-character wildcard for term
expansion.
- A search for DO? will return results that contain
terms such as DO, DOG, DOT, DOE, DOI.
- If a search results in an expansion error, more characters will be
required in order to more uniquely identify the desired terms. For
example, a search for T? will likely result in a term
expansion error because a large number of terms or words start with
the letter T.
- A question mark may be used inside a string of characters. For example,
a search for C?T will return results that contain
terms such as CAT, COT, CPT.
- More than one single-character wildcard may be used in the same search.
However, this may cause a slower return of the results than searching
with only one single-character wildcard.
- Question marks may not be used as the beginning of a term. For example,
a search for ?ETERGENOUS will result in an error.
Phrase/Adjacent Terms
- Phrases (adjacent terms) can be searched for by using double quotes.
For example, a search for "BIG EXPLOSION" will
return results that contain the term BIG immediately followed
by the term EXPLOSION.
- Wildcard operators inside a phrase will operate as wildcards. For example,
a search on "CIRCUS TRAIN*" will return results
that contain phrases such as "circus train", "circus
training", "circus trainers".
- Phrases can be joined together using Boolean
Operators. For example, a search for "DOG HOUSE" OR "DOG
RESIDENCE" will return results that contain either the
phrase "DOG HOUSE" or the phrase "DOG
RESIDENCE".
- Example: Searching for "solar energy" will
return matches that contain the term solar immediately
followed by the term energy.
- An inexact phrase search can be performed by surrounding a phrase in quotation marks followed by a tilde (~) and an integer: “phrase”~#. The integer represents the number of unrelated words that may be present between the two search terms. For example, a search for “DOG CAT”~2 would return results that contain the following: “cat dog”, “dog cat”, “dog * cat”, and “dog ** cat”, where the asterisk represents the unrelated words.
- Searches for “DOG CAT”~2 will return results that contain both DOG and CAT. However, the relevance is increased for results where the two terms are closer together.
- The integer for an inexact phrase search must be at least 2 to permit reordering of phrases. An integer of 0 would return exact matches.
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Boolean
- If you receive an error message related to Boolean searching, please
check your use of operators, parenthesis and/or quotation marks.
- Operators (AND, OR, NOT)
- Searches for DOG AND CAT will return results that
contain both DOG and CAT. Searches
using the Boolean operator AND must have two conditions
on which to operate. Therefore a search for AND CAT will
return results that contain only CAT (the word AND is
not indexed).
- Multiple words entered as search terms without a Boolean Operator
must all be contained in the field(s) searched in order to be returned
in the search results. In other words, an implicit AND is
added between each term. For example, a search on the 'Title' for DOG
CAT will return results that contain both DOG and CAT in
the title. It is not necessary for the terms to be adjacent.
- Searches for DOG OR CAT will return results containing
either DOG or CAT. Searches using
the Boolean operator OR must have two conditions on
which to operate. Therefore a search for OR CAT will
return results that contain only CAT (the word OR is
not indexed).
- Searches for DOG NOT CAT will return results that
contain DOG and do not contain CAT.
Searches using the Boolean operator NOT must have
two conditions on which to operate. Therefore a search for NOT
CAT will return results that contain only CAT (the
word NOT is not indexed).
- Order of Operation
- The default order of operations (precedence) for all supported
Boolean Operators is NOT, AND, OR.
- Unless overridden by use of parenthesis, the default order of operations
will be used. Expressions are evaluated in order from left to right
according to the precedence of their operators (or order of operation).
Operators with higher precedence are applied first. Operators of equal
precedence, i.e. the same operator used more than once, are applied
in order of their appearance in the expression from left to right.
- A search for DOG NOT CAT OR MOUSE will return results
that either
- contain the term DOG and do not contain
the term CAT or
- that contain the term MOUSE.
This can be demonstrated by adding parentheses in the example (DOG
NOT CAT) OR MOUSE to show the order of precedence. Since NOT has
a higher order (precedence), its expression is evaluated first.
- A search for DOG NOT (CAT OR MOUSE) will return
results that contain DOG and do not contain either CAT nor MOUSE.
This is an example of overriding the default order of operations by
using parenthesis.
- Examples:
- Searching for actinide or actinides returns matches
containing either the term actinide or the term actinides.
- Searching for actinide and actinides returns matches
that MUST contain both actinide and actinides.
- Searching for actinide not actinides returns matches
that both
– DO contain actinide and
– DO NOT contain actinides.
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Document Discussions
View Document Discussions
Select "See Document Discussion" from Home Page. Click on document title to view all discussions per title.
Write/Submit a Discussion
Search for a document. Select the document title. Select the "See/Add Document Discussions" or scroll to bottom of document to find the input box. Type in your discussion and select the "Add Discussion" button.
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Search Results
Results
- The Search Results page provides you with information about your search,
including your search strategy, your sort choice, an approximate number
of results, and the number of results pages.
- From your Search Results page you can:
- Re-sort the search results
- Refine your search
- Select a Printer Friendly version of the Search Results page
- Navigate from your current Search Results page to other Search Results
pages
- Select results of interest by checking the box in front of each result
and clicking on 'Show only (√) Items' (see Using
the Check Box).
- The default number of results per page is 25.
- Each title displayed is hyperlinked to the full Bibliographic Citation.
- Each author is hyperlinked so that, when selected, a search is conducted
for the selected author. The author search is the same as if you had conducted
a phrased
search on Creator/Author from Fielded Search. For example, if you select
the 'Smith, John' hyperlink, it will provide you with the same search results
as when you conduct a Fielded Search on Creator/Author for
"Smith, John".
Using the Check Box
- Items selected via the selectable check box will be retained during your
browser session. These checked items will persist until you choose to clear
all previously selected items. This will allow you to perform multiple
searches using different criteria and have all selected items retained
in a single list.
- You may choose to clear all previously selected items.
- You may choose to remove single items from your list by deselecting the
Check Box.
- You may choose to view your list of selected results on the Search Results
by clicking on 'Show only (√) Items'.
Bibliographic Citations
- Bibliographic Citations are available via the 'Title' hyperlink on the
Search Results.
- Accessing individual pages of the full text is available via the Bibliographic
Citation.
- You may search for full text authored by a specific individual by selecting
the appropriate Creator/Author hyperlink.
Capture Citations Using Zotero
- In order to utilize the Information Bridge Zotero capability, you will need to have already downloaded and installed the Zotero browser plugin (FireFox only).
- To capture citations using Zotero, click the folder icon in your browsers address bar on the Search Results or Bibliographic Citation page for the item(s) of interest. Selecting this folder icon from the Search Results screen will provide you with the option to capture one or more of the results on the page. Simply select the checkbox beside the citations you wish to capture then click “OK”.
- To view your captured citations simply click the “Zotero” icon towards the bottom right hand side of your browser window.
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Download Citations Using EndNote
- In order to utilize the Information Bridge EndNote
capability, you will need to have already downloaded and installed the
EndNote software and have already created a Library. (In EndNote, access
the File Menu, select New).
- To download using EndNote, select the hyperlink 'Download as EndNote'
on the Bibliographic Citation page for the item(s) of interest. Selecting
this hyperlink will provide you with the option to save as an EndNote file
(.enl extension) directly to your own storage space.
- You may choose to have the EndNote Import File access your EndNote software
directly, in which case EndNote will prompt you for your Library file,
then a dialog box to select an import format will appear. Select "EndNote
Import Format" and select OK. Your selected citation will be previewed
and added into your EndNote library.
- If you choose to save the downloaded citations file (default file name
is "citations.enw"), you may open the EndNote software, open
your Library, then select the "Import" icon to add the selected
citations to your Library.
View and Download Documents
- To view a document, click on the associated icon or
'View Full Text'.
After making your selection, you will receive an 'attribution' page. Click
on either the document icon or the 'Download or View Document' hyperlink.
The document will appear within the browser if an appropriate viewer has
been loaded as a plug-in.
- To download/save the document, click on the icon or
'View Full Text'.
After making your selection, you will receive an 'attribution' page. On
the attribution page, position the cursor over the icon and right
click once with the mouse. Select "Save Link As..." and
enter the file name with the proper extension for the file type (for example,
.pdf for PDF files). After the file has been download/saved, open it from
within the appropriate viewer (i.e., Acrobat Reader, Microsoft Word).
- Documents available in the Information Bridge are
in a variety of formats. As a result, you may be able to choose from format
options when viewing/downloading. Documents may be in PDF, Microsoft Word,
WordPerfect, SGML, HTML, XML, TIFF Group 4, or Postscript. Paper documents
have been scanned and made available for viewing/downloading in PDF. All
documents that are in a non-PDF electronic format are made available for
download in the original format and/or in PDF.
- If the document consists of more than one file, it is compressed (zipped)
for downloading. It will need to be uncompressed (unzipped) before it can
be viewed. Software to uncompress can be found at http://www.aladdinsys.com/downloads/index.html [exit
federal site].
- Format possibilities for documents are indicated by the icons on the
Search Results, with the full Bibliographic Citation, and on the 'attribution'
page. Possible formats and their icons are:
- PDF
- Microsoft
Word
- WordPerfect
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Technical Requirements
- For complete functionality, you must have a recent version of a major
Web browser (e.g. FireFox, Microsoft Internet Explorer, Netscape) and related
software.
- In order to function correctly on your computer, required browser configurations
include:
- JavaScript must be enabled
- Style sheets must be supported. The application is optimized for
W3C's CSS Level 2.
- Cookies must be accepted (uses session cookies).
- To display a document, a PDF
Viewer [exit federal site] and
unzip utility (such as WinZip for windows) are suggested. The PDF
viewer should be loaded as a plug-in to view individual pages in
PDF format.
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