Subject-heading, lists

Boston University Library. Research Guides Drug Abuse. Boston University Library. Available online. URL htqi //www.bu.edu/library/guides/ drugabuse.html. Updated December 9, 2003. Provides a useful list of subject headings, indexes, databases, statistics, and Internet resources on topics relating to drug abuse. 

DIFFRACTION TECHNIQUES. Instead of listing all the individual contributions of the many excellent references, a very cursory examination of diffraction theory and its applications is presented. The detailed theory is complex and cannot be adequately treated here. Similar references have been included under the same subject headings. 

Appendix I Hierarchies of General Subject Headings lists the general and specific headings that have been developed by CAS for the General Subject Index and the hierarchies employed for these headings. 

Chemical formula codes, like empirical formula indexes, depart from the alphabetic base. Another type of special indexing aid which remains on the alphabetic base is foupd in subject heading lists. A few enthusiasts see a master subject heading list as the panacea for every ill our documentation flesh is heir to. Their opposites, also few in number, see all woe and no weal. 

Proponents see the advantages of accepted standard designations, and of agreeing on one correct term for a given item to the exclusion of other terms even if equally correct. Claiming ample flexibility through skilled use of cross references, they are prone to overlook the irresistible force by which subject heading lists attract the formalists and ritualists. In fact, many of the proponents are the formalists and ritualists of documentation. 

The system of subject indexing in British Abstracts [which ceased publication with the December 1953 issue] is described in the 1948 index (4). Subject indexing is used rather than word indexing, but the range of subject headings listed is very much narrower than that of Chemical Abstracts. These subject headings or key words do not always include the chemical name but are "the words under which the information is most likely to be sought. ... 

In searching for patents on a certain subject, the index is used as in searching for information on any subject. In British Abstracts and Chemical Abstracts the reference entries under subject heading concerning patents are prefixed by the letter P, and in Chemisches Zentralblatt they are marked with an asterisk. The same prefixes are placed before the titles of patents in the author index, which also lists the names of the assignee. In Chemisches Zentralblatt the name of the country in which the patent was first issued is included after the title of the patent in the author index. 

When the textbooks and monographs have been examined, the searcher should be sufficiently oriented into the search to permit preparation of an adequate list of subject headings for use in examining the various literature indexes. Such a list for the hypothetical case considered here might start as indicated in Table IV. 

With such a list of subject headings, the searcher is now ready to begin his... 

The original list of indexes to be examined should be reviewed at this point and revised if necessary on the basis of the additional knowledge obtained in the review of the books and the like. In fact, both the list of sources to be examined and the subject headings to be used should be repeatedly checked and revised as the search progresses. The searcher may wish to start the indexes with the special card index in the library, if this is sufficiently complete. If a more exhaustive search is required, the searcher would start from here with the most comprehensive indexes available. 

III. Set up a list of subject headings and revise it as the search progresses. 

The deadening chill of formalism is as fatal to good indexing of facts as it is to worship. The letter kills the spirit gives life. Dynamic subject heading lists are compiled, maintained, and administered with informed skill and care as potent instruments for better indexing and potent aids to skilled searchers. Static subject heading lists, compiled and administered under slavish adherence to a frozen set of rules, are road blocks. 

Prior to starting, prepare the usual list of subject headings and key words to be checked, consulted, modified, and extended in the course of the search as indicated. 

A complete listing of all information sources covered, with years and volumes checked and the subject headings and subheadings searched. 

Estadistica, quarterly, 1943-. Each issue contains a selected annotated bibliography of recent Latin American statistical publications, with special emphasis on census volumes and statistical yearbooks and other major compilations of data of the 22 American republics. The first issues of new bulletins and journals are listed, but no succeeding issues however, articles, and sections of special interest are shown under their proper subject headings. A section of news notes immediately preceding the bibliography contains information on statistical studies and publications programs launched by statistical agencies. In LC. 

The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) is a valuable source of information concerning plastics materials used in aircraft, such as transparent plastics, adhesives, and laminates of various types. Many reports on these materials are included in two comprehensive indexes (5, 4) of NACA technical publications. The reports are listed under subject headings, one of which is Plastics. To supplement the above, NACA Research Abstracts (5) is issued biweekly, listing reports on projects sponsored by... 

The extensive value of Chemical Abstracts 19 is well known. The Engineering Index 20 GONQYS the engineering field selectively, not comprehensively important engineering advances such as dielectric drying are well covered. This index, issued annually, contains major and minor subject headings, with abstracts, and extensive cross-indexing. An alphabetical list of all names mentioned in the abstracts is also included. 

The literature of the commercial development of hydrocarbons derivable from petroleum and natural gas is meager until about 1935. Since 1945, the literature has become extensive. This study includes the paraffins, olefins, alicyclics, aromatics, acetylene, and separation processes. Journals and sections of journals of value are discussed. The main subject heads to be consulted in Chemical Abstracts are given. There is considerable overlapping of subject matter in the U. S. patent classification system pertinent classes are listed. References in the bibliography were selected to show the various types available. 

Nitrogen-containing compounds are obtained from petroleum and natural gas primarily by three processes—i.e., nitration direct amination, and direct cyanidation of hydrocarbons. The author has listed review articles containing numerous references and the subject headings for searching indexes, in order to give the individual insight into the approach necessary in this field. 

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