In experimental searches of "Basic Journal Abstracts" using the subject terms from 104 selective dissemination of information profiles, retrieval was found to be significantly worse if only titles were searched rather than the full title and abstract. (PF)

Describes search tactics useful for online searching and how to use them, and identifies the points in a search at which they are most useful. An extended example shows how all the tactics may be used in an online search. (EM)

The work described was designed to test the feasibility of using automatic or semi-automatic methods to replace or reduce the intellectual effort involved in retrieving information from machine readable stores, particularly those using natural language. (Author)

Reports on an evaluation of the construction of selective dissemination of information profiles for the International Nuclear Information System (INIS) in South Africa. (PF)

Explores the possibility of combining the two principles of ranking according to degree of relevance, and ranking according to probability of relevance, for information retrieval systems, but concludes that, while neither is adequate alone, no single, all-embracing ranking principle can be constructed to replace the two. (Author/VT)

The inverse relationship of recall and precision is not a fundamental law. It must not be used as an excuse for failing to bring about any overall improvement in the performance of information retrieval systems (12 references) (Author/NH)

Describes strategies that can be used to search the DIALOG database by date to add precision to searching. The "Current" command is explained, as well as other commands; ways to search a specific year are described; and DIALOG files that are already restricted by date are discussed. (LRW)

The idea of pseudo-classification based on external relevance is introduced and compared with the more usual classifications derived by associative techniques. A general model for an information retrieval system using term classification is described. The derivation of a set of operators, or perturbations, for adjusting pseudo-classification and…

Sixteen queries, performed on the two systems, resulted in 247 unique relevant references from EMCS and 559 from TOXLINE. The overlap varied considerably, from 6 to 50 percent. It is remarkable that TOXLINE, with nine subfiles specially compiled for toxicology, can be supplemented by EMCS, which in the present study delivered 31 percent of all the…

A procedure for adjusting queries to retrieve more documents for a user by automatically selecting and broadening the descriptors from relevant documents is described. Although more computing is required, recall and precision are superior to traditional searching. (KP)

Explains five causes of false drops in online searching: reverse concepts, homographs, truncation, acronyms, and negatives. Examples from a variety of databases are provided. (EM)

Examines three familiar humanities databases that do not have named person indexes and identifies strategies to facilitate both quick, precise searching and high recall for searches where the subject is a personal name. Descriptions of the databases, suggested search strategies, and sample searches are provided. (CDD)

Some of the factors that must inevitably affect the assessment of printed indexes are discussed, together with the observation of two unexpected phenomena, namely an apparent relationship between precision and searching effort, and relationships between generality and both recall and fallout. (4 references) (Author)

The SMART system is used for the analysis, search and retrieval of news stories appearing in Time'' magazine. A comparison is made between the automatic text processing methods incorporated into the SMART system and a manual search using the classified index to Time.'' (14 references) (Author)

An investigation was made into the relative performance of the four major Chemical Abstracts Service magnetic tape data-bases. The overall retrieval efficiency of profiles searched against data-bases containing titles only, titles-plus-keywords, and titles-plus-digests, was calculated and these results are presented. (5 references) (Author/NH)