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STN Basics - Training Module Part 2

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Plan Your Work Offline

Work Your Plan Online

Wrap Up Your Session

 

Careful planning before going online helps to ensure that you retrieve the kinds of answers you want and makes your search cost-effective.

Consider the search topic...

Locate information on drug packaging processes.

 

You know that...

Well-publicized incidents of product tampering have made tamper-resistant packaging a high priority. It is currently popular to package drugs using glass bottles with tamper-proof plastic neck bands; however, new packaging materials and designs are available that may now be a better choice.

 

 

Step 1.) Define the scope of your search

Consider whether you want the search to be broad or focused.

Possibilities...

  Broad  Find information on ways to package products.
Focused  Find information on ways to package drugs that
	 reveal evidence of tampering.

 

Step 2.) Identify relevant files

Use tools such as the:

• CAS Catalog

Full PDF version of the CAS catalog is available

• STN Database Summary Sheets

 

 

Step 3.) Build your search query

A.) Identify the main search concepts.

For the search "Find information on ways to package drugs that reveal evidence of tampering", the main concepts are:

• packages
• evidence of tampering
• drugs

 

B.) Choose a set of alternate search terms for each concept.

Main Terms	Possible Alternate Terms
packages	containers bottles vials
tampering
drugs	pharmaceuticals

 

C.) Assign logic operators to combine search terms

Use AND, OR, and NOT to specify how terms will be associated in the search process.

AND: Retrieves answers containing each of the search terms

For example: => S TAMPER AND PACKAGE

(Example)

OR: Retrieves answers that contain at least one of the search terms

For example: => S TAMPER OR PACKAGE

(Example)

Search terms and logic operators are processed in a specific order by STN. Therefore, enclose terms connected by the OR operator in parentheses

For example: => S TAMPER AND (PACKAGE OR CONTAINER)

(Example)

NOT: Eliminates any answer containing the excluded word(s)

For example: => S TAMPER NOT PACKAGE

(Example)

 

D) Use "Wild Card" symbols to allow for word variations

"Wild Card" symbols (?, #, and !) are used to allow for retrieval of various forms of a word:

• Various word endings
• Singular and plural word forms
• Spelling variations (e.g., British/American spellings)

Wild Card symbols (also know as truncation symbols) may be combined within the same term and multiple occurrences of # and ! are allowed.

 

Wild Card	Definition	Example	Retrieval Possibilities
?	Zero to any number of characters at the end of a term	GROW?	GROW GROWS GROWTH GROWING
#	Zero or one character at the end of a term	GROW#	GROW GROWS
		GROW##	GROW GROWS GROWTH
!	Exactly one character within a term...	T!!TH	TEETH TOOTH TRUTH
	...or one character at the end of a term	AMIN!	AMINE AMINO

Skills Practice 1

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Training Module 3
Learn how to "Work Your Plan Online"