Help Searching BioOne Complete

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Searching BioOne Complete

Performing a Basic Search

The search bar can be found in the upper right-hand corner of every page on BioOne Complete:

A screenshot of the search bar, in the black bar at the top of the screen.

This allows you to quickly perform simple searches. Enter a word or phrase, and click Search. This scans through the full text of articles and their metadata. The results are displayed by their relevancy to the search criteria.

A few tips for your selecting search terms:

The search is not case sensitive. Searches for pascal and Pascal will return the same result.
BioOne Complete uses stemming, meaning it determines a word's stem and uses it to makes searches more inclusive. If you search for figure, you will receive results including figure, figured, figures, figuring, etc.
If you want to search a precise phrase, enclose the phrase or words in quotation marks. This will tell the search to treat the terms as a single item, as opposed to two separate search terms. For example:
- distribution patterns - this will prompt the search to return results for "distribution" and "patterns" separately.
- "distribution patterns" - this will return results that use the exact phrase "distribution patterns", meaning that the results are more likely to be relevant.
Wildcards are an easy way to expand your search when you aren't sure of the precise terms you need. There are two wildcard characters: a question mark (?) and an asterisk (*). The ? represents one potential character that may be found in this word, in the position indicated - except at the beginning of a word. The * represents zero or more characters that may appear at the end of a word. As a general rule, wildcards cannot be used at the beginning of a word, nor can they be used inside a phrase contained in quotation marks. Below are some examples for how to use wildcards:
- >b?nd - this will pull results that include bond, bend, band, bind, etc. And because of stemming, it will additionally include the plurals and tenses of these words in the search, such as binding, bent, etc.
- 19?? - This will find numbers from 1900 to 1999, as well as 19th.
- eco* - This will find ecology, ecological, ecosystem, etc.

Viewing your Results

After clicking on the search icon or Enter, you will be directed to the search results page, where you can further refine your results. For help constructing a more complex search, read Using the Advanced Search.

Using the Advanced Search

With the Advanced Search tool, you can create a complex search using different criteria to locate the most relevant results. To begin, click on Advanced Search, which appears above the search bar at the top of each page.

Close up of the search bar, in the black bar at the top of the screen. A red arrow points to the Advanced Search link.

A screenshot of the Advanced Search pop up menu.

The Advanced Search form will appear, offering several fields and filters to construct your search.

Search Terms and Fields

To begin, enter a search term into the first search bar. Your search terms can be an author's first or last name, a keyword, an article's DOI, a title, a phrase, and so on.

Selecting Search Terms

The search is not case sensitive. Searches for pascal and Pascal will return the same result.
BioOne Complete uses stemming, meaning it determines a word's stem and uses it to makes searches more inclusive. If you search for figure, you will receive results including figure, figured, figures, figuring, etc.
If you want to search a precise phrase, enclose the phrase or words in quotation marks. This will tell the search to treat the terms as a single item, as opposed to two separate search terms. For example:
- distribution patterns - this will prompt the search to return results for "distribution" and "patterns" separately.
- "distribution patterns" - this will return results that use the phrase "distribution patterns", meaning that the results are more likely to be relevant.
Wildcards are an easy way to expand your search when you aren't sure of the precise terms you need. There are two wildcard characters: a question mark (?) and an asterisk (*). The ? represents one potential character that may be found in this word, in the position indicated - except at the beginning of a word. The * represents zero or more characters that may appear at the end of a word. As a general rule, wildcards cannot be used at the beginning of a word, nor can they be used inside a phrase contained in quotation marks. Below are some examples for how to use wildcards:
- b?nd - this will pull results that include bond, bend, band, bind, etc. And because of stemming, it will additionally include the plurals and tenses of these words in the search, such as binding, bent, etc.
- 19?? - This will find numbers from 1900 to 1999, as well as 19th.
- eco* - This will find ecology, ecological, ecosystem, etc.

Choosing a Field

Once you have entered your search terms, select a field to search through. The search terms tells the Advanced Search what to look for; the field tells it where to look for it.

There are 8 specific fields you can select from the drop-down menu to refine your search:

All Fields - This option means that the search performed will search for your specified keywords across all of the fields below.
Abstract - This will search through the text of article abstracts to identify relevant content.
Author Name - This allows you to search for work by a specific author. The results will not include authors in citations.
Affiliation - Search for work from authors affiliated with a specific institution or organization.
DOI/ISSN/ISBN - Search by DOI to precisely locate a single article, or use an ISSN/ISBN to call up a specific journal or book.
Figure and Table Captions - Search through the text contained in figure/table captions.
Keywords - Search by important terms, phrases or words.
Title - This searches through the article and chapter titles to find a match.

If you are unsure, select All Fields. While this will net more, potentially less-relevant results, it will perform the broadest search for your terms.

Narrowing by Publication and Years

You can further narrow your search by specifying which titles to search through. Type in the title you wish to select, or click View all titles for a full list. From this list you can select several titles to search through.

You can also narrow your search by year of publication. To search through a date range (i.e., 1986 - 1994), enter the start year in the left box under Range, and enter the end year in the right box. To search through a single year (i.e. 2004), enter the year in the Single year box.

Complex Searches

With Advanced Search, you have the ability to search for several sets of search terms at once. The form comes ready with three blank keyword bars, but select Add Field to add more - the maximum is 10. You can identify a different field for each keyword bar. Additionally, you can use the dropdown menu to the left of the keyword bar to create conditional searches with boolean operators:

AND - This will find results which contain both terms, either together or separately (i.e. - if you search Rattlesnakes AND bite, the search results returned will contain articles which have either Rattlesnakes, bite , or Rattlesnakes and bite.)
NOT - This will exclude specific terms from your search results. (i.e. - If you search " Nephrolepis exaltata" NOT " Nephrolepis biserrata", the search will find results containing Nephrolepis exaltata, and exclude results with Nephrolepis biserrata.)
OR - This will find results with contain either term. (i.e. - If you search "Prescribed Fire" OR "Controlled Burn", the search will find results that contain either phrase.)

Executing your Search

Once you have set up your terms, click Search. You will then be directed to the search results page, where you can further refine your search to find the most relevant results.

Once you are done, you can save this search to revisit later, and sign up to receive periodic email updates on new content published in BioOne Complete that matches these parameters.

Refining your Search Results

A screenshot of the right sidebar of the search results page, showing the multiple search refinement filters available.

You can refine your search further on the results page using the filters and features in the left-hand toolbar. You can:

Search within Results - You can enter another set of search terms, and instruct the search to look for these items in the search results.
Narrow by Date Range - Narrow your results to work published in a specific date range by using the sliding arrows to select a range of dates, or enter a single year.
Narrow by Publication - You can specify which publication/s you want search: begin typing the name of the journal, and select the title from the drop down menu that appears as you type. It will appear below with a checked box next to it.

You can add as many titles as you want; when done click Apply Refinements. To remove a title from the search parameters, click on the checkbox near the title's name and select Apply Refinements again.
Narrow by Keyword - This section lists key words and phrases that appear in the search results in order of frequency. The number of articles in which the keyword appears is displayed in parentheses next to the keyword.

Select the checkbox next to a keyword to narrow your search results to research that contains the word/phrase. The search results page will automatically reload to apply the new keyword.

You can apply multiple keywords, but please note that they must be applied individually. Be careful about the order you apply keyword filters, as the subsequent keywords are searched against the filtered results of the first keyword filter applied.

E.g.; if you first choose "Taxonomy" as a keyword, when the search page is reloaded the Keyword section will only display keywords that are found in articles containing "Taxonomy." To deselect a keyword, click on the checked box next to it.
Narrow by Access - Filter your results for articles that are Open Access.

Narrow by Author - Select the checkbox next to an author's name/s to filter the search results to display only work they have authored. The number of articles the author has written that appear in this search is displayed in parentheses next to their name.

To select an author, click on the checkbox next to their name. The search results page will reload to display the search results that this individual authored. As with the keyword refinements, you can apply multiple authors to the search parameters from the search results page, but individually - see below. Be careful about the order you apply author filters, as the subsequent authors are then searched against the filtered results of the first author filter applied.

E.g.; if you first select John. A. Smith, when the search results page is reloaded, the Author section will only list authors who have worked with John A. Smith. To deselect an author, click on the checked box next to their name.
Narrow by Affiliation - Filter the search results by the affiliation of the author by selecting the checkbox next to the institution's name. The number of articles authored by an individual affiliated with an institution that appears in the search results is displayed in parentheses next to the institution's name.

To select an institution, click on the checkbox next to the institution's name. The search results page will reload to display search results from authors at this specific institution.

As with the Author and Keyword refinements, you can apply multiple institutional affiliations to the search parameters from the search page. Be careful about the order you apply the institutional affiliation filters, as the subsequent institutional affiliations are then searched against the filtered results of from the first institutional affiliation filter applied.

E.g.; if you first selected BioOne University, when the search results page is reloaded the Affiliation section will only list institutions whose authors have worked with authors from BioOne University. To deselect an institution, click on the checked box next to it.

As you add more criteria/filters, they will appear at the very top of the page. To remove specific criteria, click on the X next to the criteria/filter you wish to remove.

A screenshot of the top of the search results page, with a red arrow pointing the small boxes that contain each additional filter, with small Xs next to them.

You can sort the search results by using the drop-down menus in the black bar above the search results.

Using the drop-down menu by Sort By, you can re-order your results according to their relevance to your search, from oldest to newest/ newest to oldest, and from A-Z or Z-A, according to article title.

By clicking on the drop-down menu by Display, you can select how many results you want to view on each page: 25, 50, 75, or 100.

These features allow you to quickly refine a search to find the most relevant results. To save this search to revisit in the future, click on Save Search in the upper left-hand corner. For more information, read the help entry Saving a Search.

Saving a Search