SEARCH TOOLS AND FUNCTIONS

There are four major methods of searching Chemical Abstracts on CD. You can browse various indices, you can do a search including information from many different fields, you can search by the name of the substance, or you can search by the formula of the compound. The following sections describe each of these search possibilities in detail. The descriptions given are for the function buttons of the search screen, but the tools presented are also available from the pull-down "Search" menu at the top of the screen.

The first button on the control strip at the top of the CA screen portrays a book and represents the browse function. Browse is particularly useful when searching for an author of whose first name you are unsure or a molecular formula. When you click on the browse button, you are faced with a screen that allows you to select an index to browse and a small text box in which you can begin typing the term for which you are searching. All of the indices of CA are searchable. What follows is a list of the indices available to browse, along with a short description of the content of each index.

The browse function is probably the most useful of all of the Chemical Abstracts search tools. When you select a field of the index to search, you may begin typing the word or name that you seek and the screen will automatically scroll to words matching those that you typed. In order to see a title list for each index item, it is necessary to double click with the mouse on the item of choice. To see the list of titles for more than one index item, click with the mouse on the first item and then hold the control key down while clicking on additional items. Clicking the "Search" button produces the list of titles. To read the abstracts or see the citations for interesting titles, double click the title of choice.

To access the search option in CA on CD, click on the second button from the left on the control bar at the top of the screen. The button displays a little magnifying glass.

The search screen presents you with six text boxes in which you can enter terms for which you want to search. Select a field (the same as the fields described for the Browse function) from the pull-down menu to the right of each term to specify the index in which to search. If you want to combine multiple terms, select a Boolean operator from the pull-down menu at the left of the terms. There are three choices.

The search function is more difficult to use than the Browse function. If you do not enter the terms exactly as they appear in the indices, you will not retrieve any records. For example, assume that you want to find papers by James F. White (who wrote three papers so far this year), and you enter "White, James." In the author index, however, the name appears as "White, James Francis," and so no hits are returned. If you are not sure of the exact phrasing of the terms for which you are searching, it is wiser to use the Browse Function.

The Substance button, identified by a small Erlenmeier flask and the word "Subst," brings you directly into a substance index. This is arranged in a heirarchical manner. You begin by browsing the substance index for a very general compound or class of compound, such as "methane." Once you have found the general compound type, either double click on your choice or click the "Expand" button at the top of the screen. This brings you to the next level of the heirarchy, which contains more specific classifications (such as "Methane (SUBSTITUTED)") as well as some references that link directly to titles ("Methane-d [676-49-3]"). Generally, if you find a selection with a + sign next to it, it is possible to further expand that designation. When you have finally advanced through the heirarchy to a description of the compound that nearly fits your needs, double click on that item or highlight the item and then click the "Document" button to see a list of titles. From the list of titles, the procedure is the same as for the Browse and Search functions.

The Formula search allows you to perform a search for the molecular formula of your desired compound. The Formula button in the control strip displays a small beaker and the word "Form." The layout of the search screen is the same as for the Substance search; the search proceeds in a heirarchical manner. You may begin typing the formula in the text box at the top of the screen. The following sample search shows the layout of the heirarchy for the Formula function. Suppose that you want some information on a derivative of acetic acid. Using the Hill Order, you enter the search term "C6H12O." You are brought to the page of the index on which this entry appears, and you double click on the entry. You are faced with the following lines of text.

You decide that you are most interested in expanding the "Acetic acid" selection, so, you double click on that selection. This achieves the following.

Since this is the only selection available to you, you are forced to double click it (or, for variety's sake, you could select it and then click the expand button on the line with the text box in which you entered the formula. Going down the next level in the heirarchy by double clicking on + compounds (MODIFIED), leads you to the final level.

Double clicking this last level would ordinarily give you a title list for this substance. In this case, there is only one selection, and so it brings you directly into the abstract and citation for the selection.

Now that you have learned to locate the references using the four basic search modes, you have many options on how to use the information that you have obtained. Most of the extra options are available from the function bar at the very top of the screen.

The edit options are similar in CA on CD to those in most word processing programs. It is possible to copy text from the article record to the clipboard and to paste text from the clipboard into the search boxes. It is not possible to cut or paste chemical structures or to search on structure in this application.

CA on CD has cascading windows. This means that every time you open a new window for a record, or the next stage in a hierarchy, a new window opens. Using the Window section of the function bar, it is possible to select the manner of viewing the windows. "Tile" organizes them side-by-side on the screen, while "Cascade" stacks them diagonally, one on top of another. The default is to show each successive window full-screen on top of the previous. Using the Window option, it is also possible to toggle between windows. A short description of each window appears below the horrizontal line in the pull-down menu; there is a check mark next to the current window. To open a new window, simply click on the description. This moves the check mark and opens a new window. The Window menu also give you the option of closing all windows.

The bookmark option is one of the most useful features in CA on CD. It allows you to save searches and retrieved records from one session to another. Once you have located records that you find interesting, you can set bookmarks to them by pulling down the "Bookmark" menu at the top of the screen. The two selections available are "Add" and "Bookmark List." Clicking on the "Bookmark List" option will give a list of bookmarks that are currently stored. Clicking on "Add" will give you an opportunity to name and save the current record to the bookmark list. In order to save the entire list to a disk for use at a later time, select the "File" menu from the function bar and move the mouse down to "Save As." You will be given the options "Bookmark List" and "Query List." Select "Bookmark List." The program will then ask you for a name and a drive location in which to save the desired list. If you are working in the library, you may either bring a floppy disk on which to download, or you may temporarily download to the hard drive in order to email results to yourself.