User Documentation
Introduction
There are three basic kinds of searching in the database. 1) Full-text
searching, which allows one to search for words and/or combinations of
words in one or more texts of the database; 2) Biographic searching, which allows one to find information on authors; 3) Bibliographic searching, which allows one to retrieve citations or actual texts to read online. In addition, one
can browse the contents of the database, by clicking on the Browse pull-downs
or by clicking on the Search buttons of the various search-forms.
Full-Text Searching Using PhiloLogic
The term(s) to be searched in selected documents are entered into the
Search in Texts for: box on the Basic or Advanced search-form. Word searches in
PhiloLogic are by default case insensitive, so that a search finds
both lower and upper case representations of words. The user must,
however, take into account diacritics when searching databases that have accented characters. PhiloLogic's wildcard
characters may also be employed to match many forms. The simplest
search in PhiloLogic is a single term search without wildcards. If
searching for a term such as "freedom" in the database, simply type the word
freedom into the Search in Texts for: box and press the
SEARCH button.
Wildcard Characters
Wildcard characters allow the user to enter a single search entry that may
find many forms. This is in contrast to a simple word search which
requires an exact match in order to find a word. Wildcard characters can be useful, for
example, in identifying cognates made obscure by affixes and vowel
weakening, inconsistencies due to irregular orthography, and variations on
account of word inflection as well as for discovering potential emendations
for uncertain readings. The most commonly used wildcards are listed below.
- . (period):
- matches any single character (e.g., gentlem.n will retrieve
gentleman and gentlemen).
- * (asterisk):
- matches any string of characters, anchoring the match at the beginning
of a word (e.g., cigar* will match cigar, cigars, cigarette,
etc.), anchoring the match at the end of a word (e.g., *habit
will retrieve habit, cohabit, and inhabit), or in the middle (e.g.,
c*eers matches compeers, cheers, and careers).
- .? (period question mark):
- matches the characters entered or the characters entered plus one more
character in place of the question mark (e.g., hono.?r matches
both honor and honour and cat.? matches cat and cats, but not
cathedral, Catherine, etc.).
- [a-z] (square brackets):
- matches a single character found in the specified range (e.g.,
[c-f]at will match cat, dat, eat, and fat) or any letters within
the brackets (e.g., civili[zs]e will match both civilize and
civilise).
- # (hash mark):
- matches capitalized words only (e.g., #bacon will retrieve
Bacon, but not bacon). Otherwise word searches are case
insensitive. Please note that this operator does not work properly in
conjunction with the vertical bar (e.g., searching
#hamlet|#bacon will not retrieve accurate results).
Tip: If you are using wildcard characters and would like to see a
full list of
the words matching your search-term, then run your search as a
"Frequency by Author" search.
The results page of a "Frequency by Author" search lists all the terms
found in a database that match your search-term.
Accents and Special Characters
PhiloLogic requires that one take into account diacritics when
searching documents with accented characters in both bibliographic and
full-text searching. The system provides three ways to search for accented
characters: 1) simply type the required accented character from the
keyboard; 2) use a capital letter to match all accented and non-accented
forms of a letter; or 3) enter the two character representations listed
below.
Tip: If you do not want to have to think about accents,
turn on "Caps Lock" and type in all uppercase. This is recommended
since accentuation varies: one finds, for example, perche, perchè, and perché in the database.
- capital letter = any form of the letter
- (e. g., E matches é ê è ë and e (no accent)
and É Ê È Ë and E (no accent).
- grave = (\) back slash
- (e.g., a\ matches à).
- acute = (/) forward slash
- (e.g., e/ matches é).
- circumflex = (^) caret
- (e.g., e^ matches ê).
- cedilla = (,) comma
- (e.g., c, matches ç).
- ümlaut/dieresis = (") double quote
- (e.g., u" matches ü).
- tilde = (~) tilde
- (e.g., n~ matches ñ).
- ae-ligature (æ) = ae
- the ligature is resolved into two letters. (e.g., to search
æther type in aether).
- oe-ligature () = oe
- the ligature is resolved into two letters. (e.g., to search
conomy type in oeconomy).
Punctuation and Full-Text Searching
All punctuation should be stripped from word searches except for apostrophes. Apostrophes must be entered as characters.
- apostrophe (') = '.
- (e.g., to search
don't type in don't).
- hyphen (-) = a space
- the hyphen is not a searchable character. (e.g., to search
Rhode-Island type in Rhode Island).
- ampersand (&) = should be stripped
- is not a searchable character. Avoid Phrase Searches where an
ampersand could be used as a conjunction.
- period, question mark, exclamation point, and comma = should be stripped
- are not searchable characters.
- parentheses, various brackets, and double quotes = should be stripped
- are not searchable characters and are word-breaking
(e.g., to search vor[r]ia enter vor r ia).
- common mathematical symbols
- the equal sign (=) and minus sign (-) will produce a "Nothing found"
message. The plus sign (+) is not a searchable character, but, if entered,
will be ignored.
Text Formatting
Formatting (e.g., font shifts, superscript, subscript, italics, bold, underline, etc.) should be ignored when entering a search. Realize that there are no word breaks after such tags, unless a space or punctuation appears in the text (e.g., search 1st simply as 1st).
Selecting a Search Option: One may use upper or lower case letters; searches are case insensitive. Wildcards can be used in all search options. Be sure to review sections on accentuation and punctuation in full-text searching.
- Single Term and Phrase Search: To search a single term in the entire database or a defined corpus make sure that the Single Term and Phrase Search
radio button is highlighted, simply enter the term into the Search Text(s) For: box, and press the SEARCH button. Single Term searching supports wildcard
characters and the Boolean OR-operator, which is the vertical bar (|). Entering, for example, freedom|liberty
retrieves all occurrences of the word "freedom" or "liberty" in the entire database or a specified corpus.
Phrase searching restricts the search to
adjacent words in a particular order (punctuation in the text, except for apostrophes, should not be entered).
- Proximity Searching in the Same Sentence or Paragraph: Searching for more than one term in a single sentence or paragraph without regard to adjacency or word-order
constitutes Proximity Searching. Simply type the terms in question into the Search Text(s) For: box, indicate
whether they are to be found in the same sentence or paragraph by highlighting the appropriate radio button, and press
SEARCH. Proximity Searching supports
wildcard characters, the Boolean operator OR, which is the vertical bar (|), and the Boolean operator AND, which is a
space. If looking for occurrences of the words "church" and "state" within the same sentence or paragraph in any order,
enter church state. Entering church state|throne retrieves instances of "church" and "state" or "church" and
"throne" in the same sentence or paragraph.
- Same Sentence Separated by a Number of Words: If looking for words in a sentence separated by only a specified number of words, turn on the Separated by radio button and enter the number of words.
Selecting a Results Format:
At the head of any results format one finds the bibliographic criteria limiting one's search, the number of texts searched, the search term(s) entered, and the total number of occurrences of the search term(s) in the database. The number
of occurrences displays at the bottom of the report if PhiloLogic has not detected
the number before generating the first 25 occurrences on the screen.
- Occurrences with Context is the default reporting format option. In this format each occurrence is represented by a short citation consisting of the author's name and the title of the work followed by links to the occurrences within several levels of context such as page, paragraph, scene, act, chapter, body, or contents. Below the citation there is a passage of text consisting of some forty words on either side of the key word, which is highlighted. Clicking on the links takes one to that level of context at which point one finds links to the previous and next sections.
- Occurrences Line by Line is a good format for scanning or printing large result sets since it limits the text displayed to a
single line of text. Each occurrence is represented by a 16-character
citation consisting of abbreviations for the author's name and the title
of the work with a linked reference to where the term(s) in question occur
within the document. At the bottom of the report one finds the Results
Bibliography, which lists the full references for the abbreviated citations.
- Frequency by Author, Year, or Title Reports do not display text. They list the number of occurrences in descending order of frequency with a link to the digital table of contents for each title and a link to the
occurrences found within that title. At the top of frequency reports one also finds the number of unique forms derived from the search criteria (e.g., borghes*) within the database and a full list of those unique forms (e.g., borghese | borghesi | borghesia | Borghese).
- Collocation Table format allows the user to discover lexical
collocations within the database. The user selects one word as the node or
keyword and enters it into the Serch Texts for: box.
Wildcards are allowed, but no phrases; single terms
only are permitted. Select the number of words that a given word can be
separated from the keyword (5 words is the default). The program then scans
the concordance entries for the keyword and lists in table format all the
words which occur within the specified distance of the keyword in order of
frequency. The three columns represent words on either side of the keyword,
words to the left of the keyword, and words to the right of the keyword.
Common words such as articles and demonstratives are filtered out. See the
list of Filtered Words. To include filtered words
in a report select "Turn Filter Off" on the search-form.
Fields and their Descriptions: The following fields can be used to find documents or to limit the documetns in a full-text search. Fields can be used in conjunction with each other. To see what options are available for any given field, click on the "Terms" button next to the field. If you want to see what options are remaining in another field after entering search criteria in another you can do that by clicking on the "terms" button next to it after entering search criteria in the field. These are string searches so that by entering "Proceedings" in the type field, one will also be searching for Proceedings: address, Proceedings: report, and so on.
- Title:
- Presenter/Author:
- Type:
- Subjects:
- Themes:
- Presentation Status:
- Year Presented:
- Month Presented:
- Day Presented:
- Before Whom:
- Where Presented:
- Year Composed:
- Month Composed:
- Day Composed:
- Where Written:
- Recipient:
- Source:
- Year of Event:
- Month of Event:
- Day of Event:
- Notes:
- Series:
- Volume:
- Part:
- Citation:
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