There are a large number of possible field codes to search in CSA's databases. Searchable fields vary from database to database, but some common fields include:

To search using field codes, do not put a space after a field code before the equal sign:

The examples given below apply to most, but not all, databases. Search examples can be performed using Quick Search, Advanced Search, or Command Search.

The best way to learn which field codes apply to a specific database is to look at factsheet for that database; each factsheet contains a list of field codes indexed.

Abstract, AB=

ab=(global warming) and ab=(north america or canada)

Author, AU=

This field contains the name(s) of the author(s) of the source document. Generally, the first 14 authors are listed per record, but in some cases users will find that all authors are indexed. Names are usually in the format of Author, AB, eg:

au=(jackson, tm)

Do not attempt to search for suffixes such as "Sr." or "III" or titles such as "Dr." -- they may not have been in the original document and even if they were, they are usually not included at the indexing stage.

Some of the computer science and engineering databases include first names. Because you will not know before you start searching whether first names or initials are used, you may want to do a test search first, display any record and look at the format of the author name. If first names are included, you can add them to your search, eg:

au=(jackson, robert a)

 

au=(jackson, g. Robert)

Another approach is to try entering both initials and first name. This can be done in either of two ways, eg:

au=(jackson, tm or jackson, thomas)

 

au=(jackson, (r or robert) thomas)

For hyphenated names or initials, enter the name with the hyphens, eg:

au=(Gray-Owen, SD)

 

au=(El-Ghobarey, A)

 

au=(Yu, R-H)

Note: First names and initials are not necessary; it is often sufficient to search only for a last name.

In some records, an author's name is followed by an *. This means that the organization and address in the Author Affiliation field belongs to this author. You cannot search for this * because the search engine uses this symbol to truncate words.

For patent records, the name in the Author field is that of the inventor (and the name in the Corporate Author field is the holder of the patent).

Corporate Author, CA=

This is the name of the organization that has produced the original source document. This field is often present when there is no personal author field. However, for patent records, the name in the Corporate Author field is the patent holder (and the name[s] in the Author field is the inventor). To search this field use the distinctive parts of the name and do not search for designations such Corp, Co, Company, Ltd. etc, eg:

ca=(dow corning)

 

ca=(environmental protection agency)

Often, the city and country are also provided; in older records the following abbreviations may still be seen -- FRG for the former West Germany; GDR for the former East Germany, and USSR for the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

The CA= field is not present in METADEX, Engineered Materials Abstracts (and its component subfiles) and Materials Business File, where for patent records, it can be inferred that the name in the Author Affiliation field is the patent holder.

Classification, CL=

The classification codes and descriptions are broad subject headings that are specific to various databases. For example, SW 0850 is the classification code used in Water Resources Abstracts to denote that the source document is primarily about lakes. Due to the interdisciplinary nature of much of the material covered, one record may have several classifications. If you are already familiar with the database or have a code from a previous search and wish to find similar records, place the code or descriptive word(s) in the query box, eg:

cl=(sw 0850)

 

cl=(water quality management)

 

cl=(crystal properties)

 

cl=14640

Conference, CF=

This field provides the name of the conference and where and when it occurred; it is generally edited to CSA style, eg:

 

24. Annu. Benthic Ecology Meeting, Columbia, SC (USA), 7-10 Mar 1996

All these words are searchable, but for faster retrieval, ignore the common words such as "annual or "annu" or "meeting" and search for the distinctive elements only, eg:

cf=(benthic ecology and columbia and 1996)

 

cf=(chlorinated dioxins and japan)

Note: you will get the same results if you enter these statements with parentheses around the selected terms:

cf=(benthic ecology) and cf=(columbia and 1996)

 

cf=(chlorinated dioxins) and cf=japan

Records retrieved include the papers presented at the particular meeting and the "master record" for the complete proceedings. If you just want the master record, use the TI= field as well, and AND the results together to produce the final result, which in this case is one retrieved record:

ti=(benthic ecology and columbia and 1996) and cf=(benthic ecology and columbia and 1996)

Note: in pre-1994 conference master records in METADEX and Engineered Materials Abstracts (and its component subfiles) the CF= field often contains only the location and date of the conference and not the name of the conference, which instead, is only to be found in the Title, TI=, field where it usually does not have the location or date. To find such records, use conference name words in the TI= field and place and date in the CF= field, eg:

ti=(investment casting) and cf=(czech republic and 1993)

Descriptors, DE=

This field contains indexing terms taken from a thesaurus or controlled vocabulary. These descriptors may be single or multi-word terms and serve as standard ways to describe the subject of the original document. They may refer to very specific items or to general concepts; often the word or term is not to be found anywhere else in the record, including in the title or the abstract, so a descriptor provides another access point or search term for finding information. If you are already familiar with the vocabulary used to index a particular database or can easily refer to it, searching this field retrieves focused results. To search it use DE= and when looking for several multi-word terms, use parentheses around each term and the Boolean Operator OR between, eg:

de=(ternary systems) or de=(phase diagrams)

Due to the multidisciplinary nature of CSA source material, one record can appear in several databases and has descriptors assigned from different vocabularies. For example, a record in the Biological Sciences database may also "belong" to ASFA and all descriptors are displayed:

DE= sea grass; specificity; Labyrinthula; pathogens; organism; morphology; World Oceans; decomposers; host specificity; seagrasses

In this example, "sea grass" is the descriptor from the ASFIS Thesaurus, which is used to index the ASFA records, while "seagrasses" is the descriptor from the CSA Life Sciences Collection Thesaurus.

Hint: if the term you are looking for could be one word or two words, singular or plural, use the Boolean Operators OR between options and use truncation, eg:

de=(sea grass*) or de=seagrass*

Editor, ED=

In most CSA databases, editors of books and conference proceedings appear in this field and are formatted in the same way as author names, ie, Lastname, AB. Search this field using ED=, eg:

ed=(Boxshall, GA and Schminke, HK)

If the name or names are distinctive you do not need to include the initials, eg:

ed=(Boxshall and Schminke)

Identifiers, ID=

This field contains subject terms not included in the controlled vocabulary but considered by the indexer to be extremely relevant to the record. They may be single word or multiple word terms. Since identifiers are not selected from the controlled vocabulary, different synonyms for the same subject may appear in this field, as well as abbreviations and acronyms. Also, company names, trademarks, the names of legislative acts, government policies and new and up-coming methods and procedures are often assigned as identifiers. Like descriptors, these terms may not appear in the title or abstract, and therefore serve as additional ways to focus your search. Use ID= followed by the words you want to look for in parentheses, eg:

id=(Exxon Valdez)

 

id=(atomic force microscopy or afm)

 

id=mcdonaldization

Hint: although this field is searchable, when you are looking for something very specific, such as references to the Endangered Species Act, you will generally get the same results by not restricting your search to the ID= field; choose 'anywhere' from the drop box of field codes or simply enter the term(s) in the command line search box. When there is no field tag specified all fields are searched, eg:

endangered species act

The Identifiers field may have more value when you are looking for activities or mentions of an organization and you do not want all fields to be searched, because you may retrieve irrelevant records where the organization name is, eg, the affiliation of the author or sponsor of a conference. In these cases, searching the ID=field can be useful:

id=(World Health Organization or WHO)

Keyword, KW=

This search strategy simultaneously searches the Title (TI), Abstract (AB), Descriptor (DE), and Identifier (ID) fields.

KW=(neoliberalism)

 

KW=(neoliberalism OR globalization)

 

KW=(neoliberalism AND labor)

 

KW=(labor AND wages) AND KW=(globalization OR neoliberalism)

Because multiple fields are searched simultaneously, results may differ depending on whether or not parentheses are used. For example, in the following keyword search:

 

KW=bilingual* AND KW=teach*

 

equals:

 

(TI=bilingual* OR AB=bilingual* OR DE=bilingual* OR ID=bilingual*) AND (TI=teach* OR AB=teach* OR DE=teach* OR ID=teach*)

 

where the two searched terms do not have to be in the same fields. This is a broad search.

But in this keyword search:

 

KW=(bilingual* AND teach*)

 

equals:

 

TI= (bilingual* AND teach*) OR AB=(bilingual* AND teach*) OR DE=(bilingual* AND teach*) OR ID=(bilingual* AND teach*) where the two searched words must occur in the same field. This is a more narrow search than the one above and will retrieve fewer results.

Additionally, the following fields in the databases that have them, will also be searched when Keyword is selected:

 

AC Acronym

 

AK Author Keywords

 

CE Collection Title

 

CT Conference Title

 

MT Monograph Title

 

NM Non-Polymer Material

 

OD Object Descriptors

 

OT Original Title

 

P3 Profiles

 

SA Subject/Artist

 

SV Scope

 

SX Supertaxa

 

SY Systematics

 

T2 Topics

Publication Type, PT=

Records are categorized by the generic type, physical form or medium of the original source document, such as "Journal article", "Conference," etc. The following terms are searchable using PT= . Publication types that are not seen frequently are noted, and those marked with an * are only to be found in the CSA High Technology Research Database and its component subfiles:

Abstract [ie, source document is abstract only]
*Announcement [ie, an announcement about a new book] [infrequent]
Bibliography
Book
Book chapter
Computer file [infrequent]
Conference
Conference paper
Dictionary [infrequent]
Dissertation
Drawing [infrequent]
Film [infrequent]
*Handbook [infrequent]
Journal article
Law or statute
Map
Monograph
Numerical data
*Pamphlet [infrequent]
Patent
*Preprint [infrequent]
Report
Review
Sound recording [infrequent]
Standard
Summary [ie, source document is abstract only]
Training manual [infrequent]
*Translation

There can be more than one publication type listed, so if, eg, you want journal articles that include extensive reviews of a subject, enter:

pt=(journal and review)

Source, SO=

This field contains bibliographic citation information. If the record describes a journal article, the source field for most CSA databases contains the abbreviated journal title. To search for a particular journal title you must therefore know the abbreviation name. To find the correct form of the abbreviated name, look in the Serials Source List, which is located in the database’s fact sheet. For example, if you are searching ASFA and want Fish and Fisheries, go to the Serials Source List for ASFA, where you’ll find:

 

Fish and Fisheries, (Fish Fish.), 1467-2960

Copy “Fish Fish.”(you can use the browser's Edit function) and paste it into the query box, prefaced by the SO= field tag and adding the parentheses because there are multiple words:

so=(Fish Fish.)

For articles published in 1993 or later, the ISSN can be searched. (For “Fish and Fisheries,” or “Fish Fish.”, the ISSN is 1467-2960.) Again, from the Serials Source List search, you can copy and paste to place the actual ISSN number in the query box:

is=(1467-2960)

In METADEX, Engineered Materials Abstracts (and its component subfiles) and Materials Business File, full journal names appear consistently in records from 1995 onwards. Search for these using the most distinctive words and omit common terms such as "journal," eg:

so=(materials science and technology)

A source need not be a journal article. Conference proceedings also frequently populate the Source field:

SO=Proceedings of the 38th Conference of the International Association of Great Lakes Research

Title, TI=

This field contains the title of the source document in English. Non-Roman titles are transliterated into English as well. Non-English titles appear in the Original Title, OT=, field.

To search for words that may appear in a document title, enter distinctive words in the TI= field, eg:

ti=(gibbs energy and nickel chromite)

 

ti=(asynchronous transfer mode)

 

ti=(principal components analysis and dibenzofurans)

 

ti=((organic chlorine or chlorinated dioxins) and (lake sediments))

Hint: when mixing Boolean Operators OR and AND in the same search statement, it is good practice to enclose the words or phrases in parentheses so the correct terms get ORed and ANDed together. In the last example above, you want to make sure that the "organic chlorine" gets ORed with "chlorinated dioxins" and the result ANDed with "lake sediments" rather than have "chlorinated dioxins" ANDed first with "lake sediments" and then that result ORed with "organic chlorine" - the final retrieved results would contain many irrelevant records that would have nothing to do with lake sediments.