Web of Science User Guide
Like traditional indexes, the Web of Science Citation Database may be used to located articles, reports, books and book reviews and may be searched by subjects terms (topic searching), author (person searching), institution, or geographical area.
The most unique advantage of a citation database, however, is the ability to link to the list of references used in preparation of the book or article. The Web of Science Database provides a mechanism by which you may search for these references as well (cited reference searching).
Main Menu Options:
| General Search: | Search by topic, author, journal, or address |
| Cited Reference Search: | Search for articles that cite an author or work |
| Advanced Search: | Search using complex queries including field tags and set combinations |
Citation Databases and Search Timespan:
You may select any or all databases in either search mode:
- Science Citation Index Expanded
- Social Sciences Citation Index
- Arts & Humanities Citation Index
The default selection of years to search is "all years." There are other options to limit by date.
Boolean Features Allowed:
| and | limits search; results must contain all search terms |
| or | expands search; results contain at least one of terms |
| not | excludes a particular term |
| same | searches for terms within the same sentence |
Truncation allowed (wildcards):
| ? or $ | single character replacement within or at end of word |
| * | multiple character replacement within or at end of word |
1. General Search
General search allows you to retrieve a set of citations by searching on a topic, by an author, journal (source) title, or an institution (address or author's affiliation). The search form displays separate boxes in which to enter the above separately or in any combination the searcher requires.
| Topic Search | Enter one or more terms or phrases, utilizing Boolean or proximity commands as needed. You can also limit your search to topics only in the title. |
| Author Search | Enter the name of the cited author. Use the last name first, followed by initials
If you are unsure of one or both of the initials, use the wildcard *
To ensure comprehensive results, names containing punctuation, hyphens and articles should be entered all possible ways:
|
| Source Title Search | Journal (source) title abbreviations may be obtained by clicking on the hot link "list" on the source title line. You may mark the abbreviated title and "copy" (Ctrl +C) the authorized abbreviation, then "paste" (Ctrl + V) the title in the search form box. (Using full titles will retrieve considerably fewer citations.) |
| Address Search | To efficiently search for most institutions or geographic areas, you will need to look up the authorized abbreviations used in this database. Click on the "abbreviations list" hot link. The list is organized alphabetically. Look up each word that makes up an institution's name and use the appropriate abbreviation given. If a word is not included in the list, then you should use the complete word.
|
The pull-down menus, at the bottom of the search screen, allow you to further limit your search query by language and document type.
2. Cited Reference Search
Use this search form when you want to retrieve a list of articles that cite a particular publication or author. The search form displays separate boxes in which to enter the above separately or in any combination the searcher requires.
| Cited Author | Enter the name of the cited author. Use the last name first, followed by initials
If you are unsure of one or both of the initials, use the wildcard *
To ensure comprehensive results, names containing punctuation, hyphens and articles should be entered all possible ways:
|
| Cited Work | Enter the abbreviated journal/book title in which the work appeared, a patent number, or another work. Refer to the Thomson ISI list of Journal Abbreviations to find the journal's abbreviated title. The journal abbreviation list is in alphabetical order.
|
| Cited Years | Enter year, or range of years, the cited work was published.
|
3. Advanced Search
Use this search method when you are an experienced searcher, comfortable construting search sentences using Charater Tags (listed below) and Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT, SAME). Nest terms using parentheses ( ).
| Character
Tags |
| TS =Topic TI =Title AU =Author GP =Group Author SO =Source AD =Address OG =Organization SG =Suborganization SA =Street Address CI =City PS =Province/State CU =Country ZP =Zip/Postal Code |
The Web of Science provides three Search Aids to assist with your search:
- Author Index
- Group Author Index
- Full Source Title List
You may restrict your search by language or document type. The Web of Science Database will also record your search history and enable you to combine searches by AND-ing or OR-ing them together.
4. Search Results and Citation Records
General Search The results retrieved are listed in reverse chronological order (most recent first). The number of total items retrieved is indicated at the bottom of the screen. Click on the highlighted title to go to the full record. Click on the "Summary" button to return to the list of results.
Full Record
The full record includes the complete citation, identifies article type and language, abstract, authors' affiliations and other information. There may be three hot links on the record:
| Cited References | Click on this to retrieve a list of the references used in this article. If a complete record exists in the database for any of these references, it will also be a "hot link". To return to the "parent" record, click on the title of the original record at the top of the screen. |
| Times Cited | Click here to retrieve a list of all the articles that have cited the original record. Click on an individual title to retrieve its full record. Use the Browser Back button to return to the original record. |
| Related Records | This retrieves a list of articles whose cited reference list includes one or more of the "Cited Reference" sources listed by the parent or original article. Cited Reference Search The search performed is listed at the top of the screen with the total number of hits retrieved. The list of the results and its arrangement depends on how much information was used in the cited reference search. The results may be sorted by date or alphabetically by author or item title. If an author name displayed is not the primary author, the name is proceeded by an ellipse (...). The number of hits is equal to the number of times that each work has been cited by others. If the citation is highlighted, you may click on it and retrieve the full citation record for that item. (Click on Browser Back button to return to index). |
Mark, Print & Save
There are three (3) ways to mark records:
- To mark a record from the Results Summary screen, click on the box to the left of the title.
- If all records are desired, click on the "Mark All" button at the top of the screen. After marking is complete, click on the "Submit" button to save marking.
- To mark from the Full Record screen, click on the "Mark" button as the top of the screen.
To print or save to a floppy disk, click on the "Marked List" button. A new list will appear, displaying only the selected records.
Format
to Print
Select the fields of information to print (bottom of the screen).
Otherwise, the default is a brief citation format.
Click on Format to print . Use the Browser print function
(under "File") to preview and implement the print. Use the
Browser back button to return to summary list.
Save
to File
As above, select the fields and click on "Save to file."
A menu will appear where you may enter a storage location
and file name, e.g. a:[filename].
Questions?
Online help is available at any time by clicking on the "help" icon on the menu bar at the top of the screen or by clicking on highlighted labels such as on the search forms. If you have any additional questions, click on the online help button or call the Poynter Library Reference Desk at 727-553-4124.
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