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<* *>
<* Inside Dialog *>
<* By *>
<* Ctrl C *>
<* Advanced Telecommunications Inc. *>
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DIALOG is one of the largest online databases. DIALOG
currently provides access to over 250 databases containing a
total of over 100 Million records. The range of information
available is enormous.
BEGIN:
The BEGIN command starts a search and tells Dialog which
database you want it to check out. The BEGIN command is followed
(without a space) by the file number of the database you want.
Either of the following ways could get you into the file 229
(Drug information):
Begin229
or
B229
Dialog will then put the date, the time, your user number,
and what it costs for the database you just left. For example,
if you move from ERIC (file 1) to Management Contents (file 75)
it would look like this:
EXPAND:
The EXPAND command is used to pick keywords for a search.
You can search for any word; but knowing how common a word is
gives you a good idea where to start your search.
All databases have a index of searchable words. You can see
if there are any words of the same spelling to a keyword you want
to search for. For example:
The word -more- at the bottom of the screen means that
typing Page or P will display another screen of information.
SELECT:
When you find the word you want to search for, you use the
SELECT command to tell the database what to search for. The
SELECT command can be followed with one or more search terms.
SELECT STEP:
The SELECT STEP command works just like the SELECT command,
except the files it finds are listed separately.
TYPE and DISPLAY:
There are two commands, TYPE and DISPLAY, that you can use
to look over the information you have found. The difference is
the TYPE command causes a non-stop list of the information. The
DISPLAY lets the information to list a page at a time, you have
to type PAGE or P to see the next page.
DIALOG offers nine formats to display retrieved files.
Format Parts of Record Listed
~~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~
1 Accession Number
2 Complete record except abstract
3 Bibliographic citation
4 File dependent
5 Complete record
6 Accession number and title
7 Bibliographic citation and abstract
8 Accession number, title, and indexing
9 File dependent
LOGOFF:
The LOGOFF command has no abbreviation. It's self
explanatory.
DIALOG is has help commands, typing ?HELP, or ?EXPLAIN will
give you help.
When you connect it will say ENTER YOUR DIALOG PASSWORD.
Passwords are usually eight letters long. When you type the
correct password you will see something like this:
When the announcements are done, you are given a question
mark (?). The first command you will want is to move to a
database. This is done by typing B(no space) and a the database
number.