Policy & Research Close Window

Worksheet for Planning and Conducting an AgeLine
Advanced Subject Search Using the Thesaurus of
Aging Terminology


Using AgeLine's Thesaurus of Aging Terminology to conduct your search will give you more targeted search results, because this type of search takes advantage of the way the information in AgeLine has been constructed and indexed. Although crafting a Thesaurus search sometimes requires a little extra time in the beginning compared with free-text searching, it pays off handsomely by bringing up records of books and articles that include a major focus on your research topic. This approach helps eliminate materials that are only tangentially related to your topic or are not related at all.

The terms (Descriptors) used in a Thesaurus search can be found in a printed Thesaurus of Aging Terminology or by clicking one of the BROWSE SUBJECTS buttons on the Advanced Subject Search screen. You can order the printed Thesaurus for a fee of $10.00 for shipping and handling. See the Search Help topic Ordering AgeLine's Thesaurus of Aging Terminology for more information.

The printed Thesaurus contains a Rotated Terms Section, which allows you to search alphabetically for individual words that appear in any part of a multiword Descriptor. The Relational Terms Section shows relationships (Broader, Narrower, Related) between Descriptors and includes cross-references (synonyms or near synonyms) and scope notes (definitions of usage).

The steps below take you, the searcher, through the typical steps involved when searching AgeLine using Descriptors from the Thesaurus. The examples use search statements that are specific to AgeLine on AARP's Webplace. However, the basic strategies are also appropriate for AgeLine when it is accessed through other database distributors, even though the search rules differ slightly.

Step 1

Write down your research topic in your own words in one sentence. You may need to spend some time trying to focus your research needs in order to produce one sentence only. The more effort you put into formulating a clear, succinct research statement, the more successful your searching will be. It is best to think more broadly in the beginning and then narrow your search as you go.

Example
I want to find information on how health providers communicate with older patients.

Step 2

Identify the most relevant concepts and phrases in your research query.

Example
older patients
communicate
health providers

Step 3

Look up Descriptors in AgeLine's Thesaurus of Aging Terminology that most closely match the concepts you have identified, or use one of the BROWSE SUBJECTS buttons on the Advanced Subject Search screen to find appropriate Subjects.

Example
Using the Thesaurus, you would find the following Descriptors that are closely matched to your search concepts:

Your Words Thesaurus Descriptors Explanation
Older Patients » Patients Generally, you do not need to use words such as "older" or "aged" or "elderly" when searching AgeLine, because the database is entirely focused on the population aged 50 and older.*
Communicate » Communication
Health Providers » Health Personnel The Thesaurus also lists 12 narrower Descriptors under Health Personnel. You may actually be looking for a specific type of health provider. You can come back to those terms later to narrow your search further, if necessary
.

*Note: If, however, you want to search for specific subpopulations within the 50+ group, AgeLine has Descriptors for them. It also has Descriptors that help locate research on comparisons between younger and older age groups. For more information, see the Search Help Topic How Can I Find Information on Specific Age Groups? or see pages xv-xvi in the Thesaurus of Aging Terminology.

Step 4

Using the Advanced Subject Search Screen, search separately with each Descriptor to get an idea of the number of records available focusing on these concepts. You are asking the search engine to search for records that are indexed with each of these concepts in the Descriptor field.

Example
Search Query Search Results
patients 207 records
communication 884 records
health personnel 458 records

Step 5

Select two of the most important Descriptors to pair together in a search. Quite often, pairing just two concepts gives you a narrow-enough search without having to use a third concept.

Example

You decide that Communication and Patients are the most important Descriptors, since research focusing on patient communication will likely involve communication with health personnel.

Step 6

Select a Boolean operator to pair your two Descriptors. For more information, see the Search Help topic Using Boolean Operators to Search.

Example

You have one appropriate choice in this case. You want to find those items that discuss both patients and communication. The Boolean operator AND finds items that contain both terms, so AND is the operator to use.


On the Advanced Subject Search screen, the Boolean operator options between the search boxes default to AND, so you will not need to change the Boolean operator setting for this search. If you were choosing the Boolean operator OR or NOT, you would need to click on that option between search boxes.

Step 7

Enter patients in one search box and communications in another. Click the SEARCH box.

Search results (as of 8/23/00): 21 items retrieved

When you look at some of the items retrieved, you find that most of them are focused on communication with health personnel. You decide you do not need to narrow your search further by requiring that all the items also include Health Personnel as a Descriptor.

Step 8

Look at the Descriptors used on the items retrieved that are most relevant to your search. Try searching with these to see if you may have missed material in your first search.

Example

When you look at the records you find a Descriptor--Physician Patient Relations-- that you would also like to include in your search. You want to ensure that you also collect records with this Descriptor combined with Communication.


Type physician patient relations in the same search box as patients and separate them with a semicolon. A semicolon between search queries within a search box functions as a Boolean OR. Leave the term communication in the second search box. Click the SEARCH button.

This search query is asking the search engine to find all of those items that have either patients AND communication somewhere in the record OR those that have physician patient relations AND communication somewhere in the record.

Search results (as of 8/23/00): 92 items

Step 9

Limit by year of publication if necessary or as a way to further narrow your search.

Example

You would like to narrow the results to only materials published from 1996 to 2000. In the Year boxes under the Limit Results heading, key 1996 in the first box and 2000 in the second box. Click SEARCH.


Search results (as of 8/23/00): 36 items

Step 10

You decide you would like to retrieve only those items that describe research studies. Go to the Audience Type(s) field and mark the box in front of Research to retrieve those that either describe empirical research or are geared to a research/academic audience. Click on SEARCH.

Search results (as of 8/23/00): 23 items

SUCCESS!   This search result gives you 23 books and journal articles that are targeted to your information needs. You can print your entire set of 23 records using the PRINT command on your browser. Alternatively, you may want to select records, checking the MARK ITEM box(es) to pull together a set of only those items you want before printing or downloading them.

Similarly, you may browse through your results and order articles from Infotrieve or order books through your local or online library or bookstore.

For more information on these options, click the HELP TOPICS button at the top of the search screen.


Practice Search Topics

For practice, use the 10 steps to search on the following search topics:


Help Topics [an error occurred while processing this directive]