Save and repeat your search process

Combining terms from previous searches / Repeating a search held in history buffer / SDI

Let's say you have been conducting a complicated search for some time, adding various elements, changing your mind, and now you would like to craft a search process that really represents what you are looking for.

You might be searching for the materials in our collection that pertain to the role of religion in motivating war, violence or terrorism. You have already tried keyword searches on each of these terms, and now you want to put these terms together in a controlled fashion.

Look for the heading near the top of the screen that says Previous Searches.

When you click on this heading, you discover that the catalog has been saving the trail of all of the searches you have conducted since you started your present session. Note the row of little boxes on the left side of the screen. We will click on three of these terms.

Next, click on the word Cross, near the top of the display.

You will see a set of choices headed Cross between sets. If we choose the Boolean operator Or, we will combine these three search terms into one big set, made up of all of the records in our catalog containing the words war, terrorism or violence. We can retrieve this whole group of records at once. Click on the little circle beside the word Or, and then click on Go.

Now, the contents of these three sets have been merged into one big set containing more than 4290 records.

But remember that we want to study the effect of religion upon war, terrorism or violence. So, let's select our new merged set, and the word religion. Then, click on Cross.

We get the Cross between sets choices again. This time, we will choose And. That means we will narrow down our search to only those records in which the word religion appears along with one of our other terms : war, terrorism or violence. Click on Go.

Now, we have targeted our search to about 390 items that discuss religion in connection with these forms of social disorder. To enact this search, click in its little box, and then choose View. You will be able to see all of the records that fit this description.