Funk/ACES Library · University of Illinois · www.library.illinois.edu/funkaces
Web of Science
Basic Searching
Thomson Reuters
http://images.webofknowledge.com/WOKRS5131R4.1/help/WOS/contents.html
http://wokinfo.com/media/pdf/qrc/wos-corecoll_qrc_en.pdf
About Web of Science
Web of Science Core Collection is comprised of several abstract and citation databases, including Science Citation Index Expanded, Social Science Citation Index,
and the Arts and Humanities Citation Index. It covers top journals, conference
proceedings, and books in several scholarly disciplines. WoS is part of the Web of
Knowledge suite of databases; all databases within WoK can be searched individually by clicking the drop-down arrow beside “Web of Science Core Collection” or
limiting by citation databases.
Dates of Coverage: 1955—present; updated weekly
Access:
1) From the Funk Library ACES homepage (http://www.library.illinois.edu/
funkaces/), click the “Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES)” link under the “Collections and Subjects” heading. Under
“Key Databases,” select “Web of Science.”
2) From the Library homepage (http://www.library.illinois.edu), search for
“Web of Science” and click on the link at the top of the search results.
3) Through the “Online Journals and Databases” link on the Library
homepage, search “Web of Science” and follow the link.
** When off campus, log in with your UIUC NetID and password.
Types of searches:
1) Basic search. Search by field (topic, author, publication) and limit by
date or specific database. Wildcards & Boolean operators can be used.
2) Author search: Search by author name to find author records.
3) Cited reference search: find articles that cite an author’s work.
Boolean Operators: To limit results: use AND to find articles with both terms (x AND y)
To broaden results: use OR to find articles with either term (x OR y)
To eliminate terms: use NOT to find articles with one term but not the
other (x NOT y)
WoS defaults to AND searches. If you search for “bees behavior”, WoS
interprets it as “bees and behavior.”
Truncation / Wildcard symbols and
proximity operators:
(*) replaces multiple characters in a word (biol* returns biology, biologist)
(?) replaces a single character (disrupt?rs for disrupters and disruptors)
($) replaces one or zero characters (odo$r for odor and odour)
NEAR/#: The search terms joined by this operator must be within # number of words of each other. If no number is specified (x NEAR y) the default is 15 words.
Phrase searching:
Use “quotes” to identify exact phrases when doing a “topic” or “title”
search. If two words are separated by a hyphen, comma, or period, the
term will be interpreted as an exact phrase (searching deep-sea will return results for deep-sea and deep sea, but not sea deep or sea depth).
Limits:
Timespan: limit your search to a specific time period. Limit your search
to a range of years, and the results will include the years on either end.
Citation index: limit your search to a specific database, such as Science
Citation Index Expanded.
Choosing search terms
1. Choose specific terms
closely related to your research topic.
2. Choose terms that you
might use when discussing your topic with a colleague, including current
jargon.
3. Include synonyms and abbreviations.
4. This search is not case
sensitive.
5. WoS also finds variant
spellings and forms of a
word.
If you need assistance,
contact a
Funk Library librarian!
Phone:
217.333.2416
E-mail:
aceslib@library.illinois.edu
Hours:
http://www.library.illinois.edu/
Funk/ACES Library · University of Illinois · www.library.illinois.edu/funkaces
Basic Search Overview
WoS searches the bibliographic record, not the full text of articles. The default searches are topic, author, and publication name.
Click Add another field to add additional search boxes. You can select different fields to search for each new search box. To reset
the form and clear it of all additional search boxes and terms, click “Clear.”
Topic:
Searches the title, abstract, author-provided keywords, and Keywords Plus fields. Keywords Plus includes keywords from titles cited by the author in the References section.
Author:
Search for an author using the format “last name, initials” (e.g. blaschek, h). When searching for an author with a
common name, or all the publications by one author, sometimes it is easier to use the specialized Author Search
function, which attempts to identify distinct authors and their affiliations, and group together the publications.
The Author Search link is located on the navigation bar under the Web of Science tab on the left side of the page.
Publication
name:
Search for the name of a journal, conference proceeding, trade publication, or book series. Useful when added to
other searches; for example, start with an author search for “blaschek” and add a search field, limited to source
title, for “applied and environmental microbiology,” to find all articles published by Blaschek in Applied and Environmental Microbiology.
Results:
1. Results are automatically sorted by Publication Date—newest to oldest. Use the drop-down menu above the
results to change sorting, e.g. to Relevance or Times Cited.
2. Refine your search by limiting it to specific categories, document types, or publication year with the “Refine Results” tool on the left side of the page.
3. Click the link “View Abstract” under a result to quickly access the abstract.
4. Use the checkboxes to select interesting articles, and use the options located at the top of the list to print, email, or export citations to Refworks or Endnote.
5. Use the “Full Text” button to locate full text of articles, and click on the blue “Discover Full Text” option.
Search history:
Click “Search History” on the upper right to combine searches using the “Combine” tool on the right, save
searches, and create alerts to get updates automatically! For more on alerts and saved searches, as well as
other personalization features, see the Web of Science: Advanced Search handout.
Find full text, save, output citation, etc.
To find full text:
From the record list or an individual citation record, click the “Full Text” button, and then choose the blue
“Discover full text” linking button. If the article is available to UIUC users, a link to the article appears in the
“Full Text” section. If not, you will be provided links to search for the journal in the library catalog or request a photocopy of the article through InterLibrary Loan (ILL). The Discover button also allows you to
download the citation to Refworks.
“Marked List”
The Marked List is a way to save citations so you can later print, save, e-mail, order, or export them from
the Marked List page. Click the option “Add to Marked List.” In an individual record, this is located above
the title. In the results list, this icon is located above the numbered list of results. To select multiple records
for the Marked List, click the check boxes beside each desired article on the results page and then click the
“Add to Marked List” button.
To save or output
citations:
One at a time: On the search results page, click on the document title for citation output options. In the
document record, at the top or bottom of the page, select a citation manager (Endnote, Refworks). The
citation will be sent or downloaded automatically. Make sure pop-up windows are enabled in your browser.
To print or e-mail the citation, use the print or e-mail icon.
You can also click the blue Discover full-text linking button in a document record. Under “Reference,”
choose an export method.
Batch: On the search results page, use the checkboxes to select a group of documents. At the top or
bottom of the page, select a citation manager. You can also e-mail or print citations using the print or e-mail
icons located at the top or bottom of the page.
For more information, click on “Help” on the right side of the blue navigation bar at the top of the page, or ask a librarian!
This guide is available online at: http://www.library.illinois.edu/funkaces/handouts/WoS_basic.pdf
Last updated 3/26/2014 by kmv; 6/12/2014 by kmv