For best results, COS recommends specific Web browsers for use on its site.
Search Results Display
Some search result displays will be longer than the size of the available
screen. Use the scroll bars located on the side and bottom of the screen
to view all of the information provided. Using the scroll bars also allows
navigation within each frame of multi frame displays. Use the right mouse
button or the Back option of your browser to move back through a series
of frames.
Pick Lists and Drop-Down Menus
To help you formulate queries, some search forms offer pick lists and drop-down
menus of words or phrases. To activate a drop-down menu, click on the adjacent
down arrow and select from the given list. To select a term, simply click
on it. Clicking on a second term will deselect the first term. To
search on multiple terms, hold down the Ctrl key (the Apple key for
Mac users) and click on each desired term. All selected terms will be highlighted.
To deselect a highlighted term, click on it again while holding the Ctrl
or Apple key. To start over, click on the Clear the Fields button. Some
Web browsers may use different conventions for these features.
Number of Results to View
Use this drop-down menu to select the number of search results, or hits, that you wish to display. You can choose from 25, 50, or 100 hits. The default is 25, meaning that the first 25 hits will be displayed if you do not select a different number. If the search generates more results than you have chosen to view, use the Next Page of Results button to view the additional records. Refer to the top of your result table for information about how many hits were generated and how many are currently displayed.
Search Options
COS Expertise offers six search options:
The text fields of the COS Expertise searching interface are All Fields,
Last Name, First Name, Institution, State, Past Position(s), Expertise,
Memberships, Keywords, Qualifications, Patents, and Recent Publication(s).
For descriptions of each searchable field in COS Expertise, see COS
Expertise Fields Description.
Follow the search syntax for fields and text
strings when formulating your queries. When you have built a query,
click on the Do the Search button. A table listing the search results,
showing the names of the people profiled and their institutions, will appear
on the screen. If the search does not generate any results, a message to
this effect will appear. In this case, go back to the search screen and
broaden or otherwise modify your query.
The top of the results list displays both the number of records found
and the number of records displayed. If the number of records found exceeds
the number that are displayed, view additional search results by clicking
on the Next Page of Results button. This displays additional results in
sets of 25. Alternatively, you can go back to the search interface, set
the Number of Results to View to a higher number,
and repeat the search.
Search results are displayed in order of score, or relevancy
ranking. Relevancy ranking organizes retrieved records so that those
most likely to be relevant to the given search request are listed first.
At the bottom of the search results list, under the heading Refining
Your Query, the Secondary Search feature lets you refine your results
by conducting a search within them. Its search interface includes all of
the search criteria from the first search and lets you add additional terms
to narrow your results.
To retrieve a full profile, select hyperlinked name from the Person
column of the results list. Within a full record, links are often available
to the researcher's personal home page, e-mail, patents, and publications.
At the bottom of the record, COS Funding Match
links the profile to relevant grant opportunities in the COS Funding Opportunities
database.
Note that not all COS Expertise profiles contain information in every
field. Empty fields are not displayed.
Search All of COS Expertise
This main search
interface allows you to construct a targeted, field-specific search of
the entire, international COS Expertise database. A similar form is used
for all of the COS Expertise search options. Rules
for Field Searching COS Expertise below details the search strategies
and syntax you can use to search COS Expertise.
Search by Specific Institutions or by U.S. States
You can limit a search to a single COS member institution or U.S. state
by choosing it from the map interface or from an alphabetical list. From the COS Expertise home page,
choose Search by Specific Institutions or States and click on the institution
or state to which you want to limit your search. This generates a search
form. Your search will only be performed within the profiles of researchers
at that institution or in that state.
Indexes - COS Keyword Index and COS Researcher Index
Browsing the Index | Searching the Index
COS Researcher Index
This interface allows you to browse or search for expertise profiles by researcher name.
This index functions very much like the COS Keyword Index that is described below.
The only difference between the two indexes is that results of a search in the COS Researcher
Index are displayed 25 per page, not 50. In addition, the researcher's name, institution, and country
affiliation are displayed within the index. You can click on the researcher's hyperlinked name to
see the full profile.
COS Keyword Index
COS professional editors label each profile using controlled Keyword vocabulary
that describes the expertise and interests of the researcher. The COS
Keyword Index lists these Keywords in alphabetical order. You can browse
or search the index, using the keywords of your choice to construct a search
of COS Expertise.
Browsing the Index
To browse the index, click on the letter of the alphabet that corresponds
to the section of the index you want to view. Each letter's section displays
up to 50 Keywords per page. Use the links at the top and bottom of the
page to navigate through the pages of terms. Alternatively, you can jump
directly to the desired section of the index by typing the first few letters
of the Keyword you are looking for into the search box at the top of the
page.
- Example: to search for terms beginning with "tri-", click on T and
then type tri into the search box at the top of the
T list page. This will take you further into the T list to terms beginning
with tri. If you type St you will jump to the "st-"
section of the Keywords listed under S. Note that if the index does not
contain a Keyword that begins with the exact letters you enter, no terms
will be returned.
If you see a term you would like to use in a search, click on it to
generate a search interface that will conduct a search within profiles
labeled with that Keyword. You can add additional search criteria or simply
click on the Do the Search button to execute the search.
To search using multiple Keywords, either return to the COS Keyword
Index page and use the search box provided (see instructions below) or
type the terms into the Keyword field of the Search All
of COS Expertise form.
Searching the Index
To search the COS Keyword Index, use the search box at the top of the COS
Keyword Index page. Enter the desired combination of letters and select
the Number of Results to View from the drop-down menu. The search engine
will find all Keywords that include the exact combination of letters you
enter.
- Example: entering dat in the search box
will pull up all Keywords that contain the letters "dat" (e.g., biodegradation,
data acquisition, mental retardation, radiocarbon dating) and list them
in alphabetical order.
The search results retrieved will be listed on a page that includes
a version of the main search interface. Check the boxes next to each term
you would like to include in your search, add any additional search criteria
desired, then click on the Do the Search button. These checked Keywords
will be searched using the or operator,
meaning that profiles retrieved will only be required to contain any one
of the Keywords. If you only want to retrieve profiles that contain all
of the checked Keywords, use the main search interface
and type all of the desired terms into the Keywords field (within a text
field, and is the default operator).
Canadian COS Expertise
This search form searches the subset of COS Expertise that profiles Canadian
researchers. Any searches using this interface will only be performed within
this subset of profiles.
COS Funding Match
Using keywords from each expertise profile, COS Expertise links intelligently
with COS Funding Opportunities
to provide an automated funding match. At the bottom of each profile, you
will find a customized COS Funding Match section listing funding areas
that may interest that researcher. Check the boxes next to the keyword(s)
you want to use in your search of COS Funding Opportunities, pick and
or or to combine your terms, choose your preferred
deadline criteria, and then click on the Search for Funding button.
This generates a list of records from our COS Funding Opportunities database
that may interest that researcher.
Rules for Searching COS Expertise
Combining Fields |
Searching Using Text Strings | Truncation
| Precedence
| Phrase Searching
For a description of the searchable fields in COS Expertise, see COS
Expertise Fields Description.
Combining Fields Using Boolean Operators: and,
or, and not
Drop-down menus offer the choices or, and,
and not to the left of most fields in the COS Expertise
search interface. This menu of Boolean operators allows you to combine
terms from multiple fields into a single search strategy. The drop-down
or-and-not menu to the left of each search field does
not affect the text within a field, only the joining of the fields themselves.
See Searching Using Text Strings below for help
using Boolean operators within fields.
and
If you do not select a different operator, the search system will automatically
use and. This means it will only retrieve profiles
that contain the all of terms specified.
- Example: if you
type earthquake in the Expertise field and smith
in the Last Name field, and choose the operator and from
the drop-down menus, the system will only retrieve profiles that list "Smith"
as the last name and contain the word "earthquake" in the expertise description.
or
If you select or as an operator, the system will
retrieve profiles that contain at least one of the terms specified.
- Example: if you type earthquake in the Expertise field
and smith in the Last Name field, and choose the operator
or from the drop-down menus, the system will retrieve
profiles that list "Smith" as the last name and/or have "earthquake" listed
in the expertise description. While profiles retrieved may contain both
terms, the or operator means they are not required
to contain both terms.
not
The not operator eliminates terms from a search.
- Example: if you type earthquake in the Expertise
field and smith in the Last Name field, and choose
the operator not from the drop-down menu next to the
Last Name field, the system will retrieve all profiles that have the word
"earthquake" in the expertise description but do not have "Smith" in the
Last Name field. This operator tends to be particularly useful in refining
a search using the Secondary Search feature.
Whether combining fields or using it within a field, the not
operator must be preceded and followed by search terms. Beginning
a search with the not operator will not generate the
desired search results. The search engine looks for the terms in the order
they are listed in the search form, so the first field you fill out must
not have not as its operator.
- Example: if you
type earthquake in the Expertise field and choose
not as the operator, this will not generate the search
results desired. However, if you type maryland in
the State field, keeping not and earthquake
in the Expertise field, the search will be successful.
Searching Using Text Strings
For fields that allow text searching (i.e., allow you to type in one or
more words), the following rules apply:
-
Searches are case insensitive. Using either upper or lower case letters
will yield the same result set. The exception to this is Boolean operators,
which must be in lower case letters.
-
With the exception of the hyphen, do not use punctuation marks (e.g., slashes,
commas, periods, colons). Punctuation marks are treated as the or
operator. For example, the search string soil/erosion would
be treated as soil or erosion.
-
The search software does not search for the articles a, an, the, or other
common stop
words.
You can use Boolean operators (and, or,
and not) to define your search
within a field. They must be in lower case letters.
and
The operator and tells the system to search for
profiles that contain all the words that you typed in that field. The default
operator is and (i.e., if an operator is not selected
by the user, the system will automatically use and).
- Example: if you type educational finance in the
Recent Publications field of the search interface, the system will perform
the search as if you had typed educational and finance.
It will return any profiles that contain both the of the words "educational"
and "finance" somewhere within their text. (Note that this does not necessarily
mean that the two words are used together in a phrase. To find the exact
phrase educational finance, use phrase searching
with quotation marks.)
or
The operator or tells the system to search for
any profile that contains either of the search terms.
- Example: the
text string educational or finance will find
profiles that contain "educational" or "finance." Profiles retrieved may
contain both terms but are not required to contain both terms.
not
The operator not tells the system to eliminate
any profiles that contain a given search term from the results list.
- Example: the phrase educational not finance searches
for profiles which contain "educational" but not "finance."
The not operator should be used carefully as it can eliminate potentially relevant profiles.
- Example: a search using the text string sediment
not flow would not return a profile with the sentence "The sediment
deposition resulting from volcanic flow..."
You cannot begin a search string with not.
- Example: not sediment will not generate a search result.
The search software requires that terms both precede and follow the not
operator (e.g., cancer not lung).
Truncation (*)
This search method is also called a wild card or root word search. If you
type an asterisk after the root of the word you want to search, the search
engine will find all profiles containing words beginning with that root.
- Example: searching on mark* will return all profiles
with words beginning with "mark," such as market, markets, marketing, and
markers.
Internal and left truncation do not work. The system ignores
all characters to the right of the truncation symbol.
- Example: searching
on hea*y would yield "head" and "heat" as well as
"heavy" because the letter y is ignored. Searching on *mechanics
will not generate any results.
Precedence
You can tell the search engine to execute search commands in a particular
order by using parentheses. This works like the rules for math problems.
- Example: In the equation (4+3) x 2, you first add 4 and 3 to get 7, and then multiply 7 by 2. Similarly, if you want to find profiles that
contain the word "AIDS" or "HIV," and then within these profiles find those
that also contain the word "pediatrics," you would use the search phrase
(aids or hiv) and pediatrics. You could further refine
this search to eliminate all profiles that contain the word "Africa" by
using the phrase ((aids or hiv) and pediatrics) not africa.
Nested parentheses can be used as long as all parentheses occur in matched
pairs.
- Example:, the text string experiments and ((human or
pig) not rat) searches first for profiles containing either "human"
or "pig." Then all profiles in that set containing the word "rat" are eliminated
from the results. Lastly, the results are further limited to profiles that
also contain the word "experiments." A search using the text string (human
and computer) or (ergonomics not environment) will return profiles
that contain both "computer" and "human," those that contain "ergonomics"
but not "environment," and profiles that contain "computer," "human," and
"ergonomics" but not "environment."
Phrase Searching (Proximity Searching)
The simplest way to search for an exact phrase is to define your search
by enclosing the phrase in quotation marks. For example, typing "soil
erosion" (with the quotation marks) retrieves profiles containing
that exact phrase.
If you want to search for words used together but not limit the search
to an exact phrase, you should use a proximity search. Proximity operators
define how close to one another you want the terms to be used in the profiles
returned. The operator w/# defines proximity of words
in any order. The proximity operator pre/# defines
a particular word order. The number (#) you fill in determines the number
of words that can come between the two terms you are searching for.
For example, w/1 and pre/1 require
that the words be adjacent. Using w/3 and pre/3
allow up to two words to come between the terms you are searching
for.
See the examples below:
-
american w/1 association searches for the term "american"
adjacent to the term "association." Profiles retrieved would include phrases
such as "American Association of Dental Schools" and "National Dairy Science
Association, American Society of Animal Science."
-
american w/5 association searches for "american" within
5 or fewer words of "association." Profiles retrieved would include phrases
such as "American health projects performed in association with..." and
"Association of North American Neurological Surgeons."
-
soil pre/1 erosion searches for "soil" directly in
front of "erosion." (This generates the same results as typing in "soil
erosion" enclosed in quotation marks.) Profiles retrieved would
include phrases such as "soil erosion on agricultural land." Not included
would be phrases such as "erosion of the soil."
-
soil pre/4 erosion searches for "soil" 4 or fewer
words before "erosion." Profiles retrieved would include phrases such as
"soil properties and erosion" and "soil losses by wind erosion."
When using more than one proximity operator, parentheses must be used.
-
(american w/1 heart) w/1 association searches for
"american" within one word of "heart" within one word of "association."
Profiles retrieved would include the phrase "American Heart Association."
-
american w/1 (heart w/1 association) searches for
the same records as (american w/1 heart) w/1 association. Profiles retrieved
would include the phrase "American Heart Association."
-
american w/1 heart w/1 association retrieves no profiles.
Add or Update Your Expertise Profile
Use these forms to add your COS Expertise profile to the database or to
update your existing profile. Access to an existing profile is protected
with the user name and password chosen when the profile was first added.
You can work on and submit any one of twelve sections of your profile.
Once you add or update your profile, it will take approximately one week
for COS editors to process it and publish it on the Web. However, you can
still access your profile during this time using your username and password.
Please see Help
for Adding or Updating your Expertise Profile for specific instructions
on how to use the Online Add and Online Update forms for COS Expertise.
Query Track
Query Track
lists all searches performed during your current Web session. A table displays
the field(s) searched, the search query or strategy, and the number of
hits for each search. The searches are listed in chronological order from
earliest to most recently performed search. To repeat a search, click on
its hyperlink in the Query column of the table.
Your queries will remain stored in Query Track as long as you remain
connected to the World Wide Web by a Web browser package (e.g., Netscape
Navigator, Internet Explorer, Mosaic). If you leave COS Expertise, access
other Web pages (both COS and non-COS), and then reaccess COS Expertise,
your previous queries will still be saved in Query Track. If you close
your browser package completely and subsequently start a new Web session,
your previous queries will no longer be saved in Query Track.
You can save all listed queries by saving your Query Track Web page
to a floppy disk or hard drive. When you reconnect to the Web, you
can open the saved file and rerun a search by clicking on its hyperlink
in the Query column. The given search strategy will rerun against current
data, retrieving any additional records relevant to your query that may
have been added to the database since your initial search.
Query Track is accessible from the COS Expertise home page, or by selecting the Previous Searches or the Query hyperlink found at the top of each search results screens.
View and Print Records
You can view individual profiles by clicking on a hyperlinked name in your
results list. If you want to view more than one profile at a time, use
the Viewing Manager feature found at the end of every search results list.
It allows you to view some or all of the records retrieved in the search.
To see all of the profiles in the search results list, select View All
Items Above. To see some of the profiles, use the check box next to each
item in the results list to mark the records that you wish to view and
select View Items Checked Above. Then click the button marked View.
The data will be displayed in your Web browser and can be printed, saved
to disk as an HTML document, or mailed electronically to another party
(this requires familiarity with the e-mail features of your specific Web
browser).
To view multiple items from more than one page of results:
-
1. Check the box next to each item you wish to view on the first page of
results.
-
2. Click on the button marked Next Page of Results.
-
3. Check the box next to the items you wish to view on this page.
-
4. Repeat steps two and three until all the items you wish to view are
checked.
-
5. Scroll down to the bottom of the page to the Viewing Manager.
-
6. Select View Items Checked Above.
-
7. Click on the button marked View.
To Print, use the print option in your browser.
COS Quick Form
Using information from your COS Expertise profile, COS
Quick Form creates a completed PHS 398 Biographical Sketch. The National
Institutes of Health (NIH) requires this form in all proposal submissions.
An annual subscription gives all researchers at a COS member institution
access to COS Quick Form. For more information, please click on the hyperlink
above.
Copyright 1998 Community of Science, Inc.
