CSA Illumina's Thesaurus enables you to search and browse thesauri available for particular databases.
Using the Thesaurus, you can browse for terms via a hierarchical, alphabetical, or rotated index display. These display formats allow you to navigate the thesaurus alphabetically or through the hierarchical relationships between terms. After finding appropriate terms, you can submit a search for those terms in the database Descriptors field.
There are many thesauri available to support your database searching. Your thesaurus choice(s) are determined by the database(s) selected, and are displayed in a drop down box. More than one thesaurus may apply to your selection, but you can search only one at a time:
To use the thesaurus, enter a term into the search field, select a display option, then click the Go button. There are three display options for your thesaurus search results:
The Alphabetical display produces a simple alphabetized list of terms, with selection boxes beside valid, preferred terms. There are no boxes beside terms that if searched would not retrieve any results. You can still click on these hyperlinked terms to display the full thesaurus entry and discover which terms to use instead.
Thesaurus (Hierarchical)
The Thesaurus display shows the hierarchy of the term and relationships to the other terms, and you may click on hyperlinked terms to navigate the thesaurus. Broader terms, narrower terms, related terms and use/use for instructions are listed in this display. Previous and next terms are also included. The [+] symbol appears next to terms that contain narrower terms within their hierarchy. Scope notes, which are brief statements of the meaning or usage of a term, and history notes also display, where relevant. The explode capability searches for the marked term and all its narrower terms.
When you are ready to search for the term within your selected database(s), mark the boxes next to the desired term(s), then click on the Go button on the left side of the screen. The same search functions available in the Quick Search and Advanced Search and Command Search, including limits, date range, sorting, and display options can be used to modify a Thesaurus search.
The Rotated Index (which is often called a permuted index) displays an alphabetical list of all thesaurus terms containing a selected word. This word can occur anywhere within a thesaurus term and it does not have to be the first word. You can only search for a single word, not a phrase, in the Rotated Index. This display also shows the [+] symbol beside terms that have narrower terms, and provides related terms and scope notes, where relevant. To see the full hierarchy and relationships, you can click on the hyperlinked term.
