Turfgrass Information Center >> The Database >> FAQ & Hints for Searching
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FAQ
& Hints for Searching
Frequently Asked Questions about the Databases of the Turfgrass
Information Center
What's in the TGIF database?
What's not in the TGIF database?
How do I subscribe to the Turfgrass Information
Center?
I closed my browser without logging out of TGIF and now I'm stuck in
a loop of error messages. How do I clear my browser's cache?
I pressed a button and nothing's happening. What's wrong?
What should I do?
I did a search, and I got a screen full of gibberish and
meaningless text. What should I do?
Where's the rest of the article?
I got too many records in my search - How can I limit the
size of my search results?
Why do I get different number of results in different kinds
of searches using the same keywords?
My search retrieved more records than I want. How can I pick
some of them to print or download?
How can I navigate through a display that has many records?
How do I download my results?
How do I change how the records are displayed on my browser
screen?
How do I view the rest of the TGIF record?
How do I print my results?
Why is the fastlink not working?
I indicated a maxium number of records to be displayed for
my search. Now, with the records listed, I am not able to display more
records when I indicate a higher number to be displayed. What's wrong?
I received an error message that says at the bottom "You have been exited
from your STAR Web session because your session has been inactive longer
than the period allotted to inactive users." What happened and how
do I to get back into the database?
I closed my browser window without clicking the "Log Out" button and
now when I try to log back in to TGIF it won't let me in.
I pressed a button and nothing's happening. What's wrong?
What should I do? ::Back
to Top::
Check your browser's status line: the line at the bottom of your browser's
window. If it says "connecting to host", "waiting for reply",
or "receiving data", or if your screen pointer shows an hourglass
instead of or in addition to an arrow, your computer is still working
on the last command you gave it. Be patient! If there is a lot of traffic
on the network, or if your search retrieves many items, it can take several
minutes for the results to display on your screen. If you want to cancel
your command, press the "Stop" button on your browser. Do not
start clicking buttons randomly: this will only stack up more instructions
for your computer to try to follow.
::Back to Top::
I did a search, and I got a screen full of gibberish and meaningless text.
What should I do?
Press the "Reload" button on your server. If you are asked,
"Repost information from form?", press "OK."
Where's the rest of the article? ::Back
to Top::
The TGIF database started as a bibliographic database: it contains information
about books and articles, but it doesn't contain all the books and articles
themselves. Sometimes, the record for a book or an article contains a
link to the complete item. If no Internet address is given, use one of
the other means of finding the original article which are available to
TGIF subscribers.
I got too many records in my search - How can I limit the
size of my search results?
::Back to Top::
1. In any of the Search interfaces, after records are retreived browse
the set and use the Select boxes to create a subset.
2. In Basic Search introduce another search term to "cross"
with your existing search by adding another search term.
3. In Guided Search, use the AND box with another term to better refine
results.
4. In the Basic Search and Guided Search options, reduce the "maximum
number of records to display" to a lower number.
Why do I get different number of
results in different kinds of searches using the same keywords?::Back
to Top::
The different number of results in different searches using
the same keywords is related to the different search algorithm for each
search. For example, let us look at Basic Search and Guided Search:
First, the Basic search algorithm takes your word or whole phrase and searches for it as a keyword, facility, cultivar, person, business, trade name, or geographic term. if it finds it as a keyword, it looks for use terms and searches for records with that use keyword (for example, the keyword for annual bluegrass is Poa annua, so annual bluegrass is also searched as Poa annua). Next, the algorithm strips out "stop words", like of, in, on, turf, grass, etc., parses your search phrase and searches using the NEAR operator what is called the Basic Index, which is contains almost all fields (excludes full-text). Afterward, your parsed phrase is searched using within-occurence operator (W/O) as an author, then as a title, keyword, or author using the AND operator to de-dupe it.
Now let us search the phrase "Biological Control of Dollar Spot"
in Basic Search.
Here is how all the above mentioned search algorithm looks like (this
can be seen by changing the Display Format to Algorithm Display):
Count Srch# Search
20 S1. SUB2, DETRAN=("BIOLOGICAL CONTROL OF DOLLAR SPOT"*) OR
BI=(("BIOLOGICAL"* NEAR "CONTROL"* NEAR "DOLLAR"*
NEAR "SPOT"*)) OR A=(("BIOLOGICAL"* W/O "CONTROL"*
W/O "OF" W/O "DOLLAR"* W/O "SPOT"*))
76 S2. TKA=(("BIOLOGICAL"* AND "CONTROL"* AND "DOLLAR"* AND "SPOT"*))
78 S4. (S1 OR S2)
78 S5. (S4)
0 S10. biological control of dollar spot
Second, the Guided Search is meant for more refined searching, so it does not "backfill" so much and takes your search much more literally. For example, our search of "Biological Control" as anything is searched as an entire phrase, as is our search "Dollar Spot". Using "Anything", it searches BITEXT, which is the Basic Index plus the Full-Text field. This is what the Guided Search algorithm looks like based on our search:
Count Srch# Search
1244 S1. BITEXT=("BIOLOGICAL CONTROL"*)
1322 S2. BITEXT=("DOLLAR SPOT"*)
68 S4. S1 AND S2
68 S13. (S4)
Hence, even if you are using the same keywords to search you still might get different results in different kinds of search interfaces because of the different search algorithm.
My search retrieved more records than I want to print or
download. How can I display only certain selected records? ::Back
to Top::
Each record has a box labeled "Select." Check the "Select"
box for each record you want to print, then hold down the Ctrl key and
press Home to display the buttons at the top of the list of records, then
press "Display Selections." A new report will be displayed,
containing only the records whose "Select" boxes were checked.
You can return to the display of all the records by pressing "Return
to Display."
How can I navigate through a display that has many records?::Back
to Top::
There are several navigational methods:
- You can navigate between different pages of results by clicking on the page numbers above the search results.
- Ctrl+Home moves to the beginning of the display
- Ctrl+End moves to the end of the display
- Your browser's Find command can also be useful. In most browsers, either hold down Ctrl and press F, or select Edit, then Find from your browser's menu. A box will appear in which you can enter the text you want to search for. Since each record is headed by its TGIF record number and its number within your search results, you can use "Find" to skip to a particular record. For instance, to go through your search display to TGIF record number 33076, find "Record: 33076"; to find the 36th record in your search result, find "Item 36 of".
How do I download my results? ::Back
to Top::
There are two recommended options:
- Click on the diskette icon next to "Download Results" above the search results. This will bring up a window with detailed instructions.
- Once you have displayed the records you want to download, use your browser's Save command. Usually, this means selecting File from the browser's menu, then selecting Save As. You will then see a window in which you can specify the name of the downloaded file. Note: Your browser may want to save your results as a Web file or as a picture. To avoid this, select either "All files" or "Text" in the "Save As Type" box, and be sure the file name you choose ends in .txt.
How do I change how the records are displayed on my browser screen?
::Back to Top::
In TGIF/Web it is
possible to change the display format of searched records. Once
a search has been executed and the first record displayed in the "default" format,
users may change the display format of the executed search by
selecting a different format from the drop-down box at the top
of the
screen. Available formats are:
Brief Table - Default; tabular format with selected TGIF data
Short - selected fields in the TGIF record
Full - all fields in the TGIF record
Citation - display TGIF records in a Crop Science-like citation format
EndNote - EndNote import format (save as text)
Algorithm Display - shows what was searched in TGIF for trouble-shooting purposes
How do I view the rest of the TGIF record?
::Back to Top::
To view the entire record for a single item, press the "More"
button next to that item.
To view the entire record for all of the displayed items, select "Display the entire record" from the pull-down box at the top of the screen. The results of your search will reappear, with the full record for each item displayed. (Note: If your search set is large, this may take a while.)
Hint: If your search resulted in many items, you may want to select
a few of the "best" ones before displaying the full record.
How do I print my results?
::Back to Top::
Press the "Print" button on your browser. Most browsers allow
you to print "All" (all the records retrieved by your search),
or to specify which page numbers to print. If you highlight part of the
screen (by dragging your mouse across it) before pressing "Print",
you can print only the highlighted area.
Why is the fastlink not working?
::Back to Top::
Due to a server upgrade, users may find previously-successful fastlinks
may cease to function. This can be remedied by converting the old fastlink
to the new, acceptable format. To do this, in the URL (web address), between
"search1=" and before "&format=* change any "="
sign to be "%3D".
I indicated a maxium number of records to be displayed for
my search. Now, with the records listed, I not able to display more records
when I indicate a higher number to be displayed. What's wrong?
::Back to Top::
When you chose to display a given number of records at the beginning of
your search, this number will trump the "display number of records"
when the search results are displayed. If you chose to display 25 records
at the beginning of your search, and once the records are displayed you
decide you would like to 100 records, you must re-execute your search
to see more results.
I received an error message that says at
the bottom "You have been
exited from your STAR Web session because your session has been inactive
longer than the period allotted to inactive users." What happened
and how do I to get back into the database? ::Back
to Top::
If there is no activity (searching, changing display formats, clicking
"More" buttons, etc.) for over 15 minutes while logged in to
TGIF, the database software thinks the person has left without logging
out and exits the search session. When this happens, a user will need
to re-login to the database to continue searching. Because different
users enter TGIF from different points, there is not one route back into
the database. For users affiliated with an organization or association,
they may need to go back through that organization's members-only area.
For academic institutions, corporations, and individual direct-subscribers
to TGIF, they may log in through http://turf.lib.msu.edu.
For Michigan residents, they will need to go through Michigan eLibrary's Database listing and
choose "Turfgrass Information File (TGIF)" from the list of
databases.
I closed my browser
window without clicking the "Log Out" button and now when
I try to log back in to TGIF it won't let me in. ::Back
to Top::
If the Internet browser window is closed without logging out of the database,
the user may not be able to relogin to the database until their search
session expires. This is because the database cannot tell that the person
desired closing their session - they could have stepped away from
their computer, be reading something, answering a phone call, looking at
a different website, etc. To the database, the session is just inactive.
When the user then tries to log back in to the system, their User ID shows
as already in use. Inactive sessions are automatically logged out after
30 minutes of continuous inactivity.
::Back to Top::
Hints for Searching
Do:
Remember to press the "Log Off" button when you're finished
searching.
Plan ahead. The database contains many thousands of records, and searching
for a subject like "warm season turfgrasses" will take a long
time and probably not be very useful.
Also, the network connection will be slowest at mid-afternoon U.S. Eastern
time (GMT - 5 hours in winter, 4 in summer); if you have a lot of searching
to do, you may want to avoid that time.
Don't:
Click on buttons randomly when it seems like your computer isn't doing
anything. It's probably trying to carry out your last request: searches
that retrieve many records can take minutes, rather than seconds. If
the status line at the bottom of your browser's screen says "connecting
to host", "waiting for reply", or "receiving data",
or if your screen pointer shows an hourglass instead of or in addition
to an arrow, your computer is still working on the last command you gave
it. Be patient!
Use the buttons on your browser (back, go, location, address) once you've
logged on. This could cause TGIF to lose track of where you are in your
session, and you may get strange results. Exception: If you click on
a link to view a document at another site (i.e., a link that starts with
"http://"), you can use the "back" button to return
to your search results. Remember, though, that if you don't return to
your search results within 30 minutes, you will be logged off TGIF and
will need to log on again before doing any further searching.
To get help, press the Help button on the screen. You will see instructions
for the screen you are currently working on. You can also call (800)446-8443
between 9:00 and 5:00 U.S. Eastern time for assistance.
How to search:
TGIF is available in a Web-searchable engine, powered by Cuadra STAR.
Current interfaces include:
I. Search Interfaces:
1. Basic Search, a fill-in-the-blank, keyword search interface. To use the Basic Search, try to keep it simple: for example, "Poa annua seedhead suppression", "White grub control", "Algae control in ponds", or "Zoysia sprigging".
2. Guided Search, to walk users through more refined searches, including use of Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) as well as limiting search results by a number of characteristics
3. Power Search (for experienced users), a full functionality, command-based search interface.
II. Browse Interfaces:
1. Browse Turf Topics, allows user to choose among prepared bibliographies on topics of current interest.
2. Browse Full-Text Journals, a listing of links to sites hosting full-text turfgrass journals. Includes publicly-available journals, such as USGA Green Section Record dating back to 1921 and USGA Turfgrass and Environmental Research Online dating back to 2002, and restricted-access journals, such as International Turfgrass Bulletin dating back to 1951 and Journal of Turfgrass and Sports Surface Science dating back to 1929.
3. What's NEW in Turfgrass Research, a fastlink to TGIF records of recent research in turfgrass.