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Below is the complete guide to searching DTIC's collections.
Navigation Tools
Using the Navigation Bar
The navigation bar at the top of each screen will help you easily go from
one section of STINET's Web site to another. Each page in the Search Web
site is represented by words on the navigation bar.
Using the Navigation Buttons
The navigation buttons on the left hand side of the search pages will
also help you easily go from one section of STINET's Web site to another.
Each link in the Search Web navigaional buttons are described below.
DTIC Collections
DTIC's collection includes areas normally associated with Defense research;
however, since DoD's interests are widespread, the collection also contains
information relating to: basic sciences such as Biological and Medical
Sciences and Environmental Pollution and Control; Behavioral and Social
Sciences; DoD Directives and Instructions; budget estimates and Research
and Development Descriptive Summaries (RDDS); Conference and Symposia
Proceedings; and patents and patent applications. DTIC also makes software,
videos and journal articles available as well.
Special
Collections
These collections are specific cuts of DTIC's Technical Reports Collection.
Some collections may be sets of full text reports or citations relating
to an underlying theme. Others may be searches designed by DTIC to allow
users to easily find documents on a certain broad topic in the Technical
Reports Collection. Others may even be a featured report which may be
of extra importance or interest.
Multisearch
STINET MultiSearch has been implemented as another service to our DTIC
customers. This web-based service is designed to be your portal to the
Deep-Web for Scientific & Technical Information. The Deep-Web is content
that resides in searchable databases and can only be accessed via a direct
query to the database. Since this content is not published as static web
pages, it is not available on the "surface" Web and cannot be
accessed directly through commercial and government search engines
Journals
Air University
Library's Index to Military Periodicals - This is DTIC's electronic
version of the AULIMP (Air University Library's Index to Military Periodicals).
Searching and browsing features will guide you through thousands of citations
to articles, editorials and news items appearing in over 80 military and
aeronautical periodicals indexed by Air University Library, Maxwell AFB.
The site contains citations and some full-text articles from 1990 to the
present and quarterly updates offer you current information in your subject
of interest. Links to electronic journals are also provided when available.
Staff College Automated Military
Periodicals Index - This is DTIC's electronic version SCAMPI, the
Joint Forces Staff College's "Staff College Automated Military Periodical
Index". The Joint Forces Staff College Library is a specialized military
library, focusing on research in joint and multinational operations, military
history and naval science, operational warfare, and operations other than
war. Library staff members regularly scan the weekly news magazines, monthly
and bimonthly journals such as Military Review, Armed Forces Journal,
and quarterly publications, including NATO's Nations and Partners for
Peace, RUSI Journal, and the Naval War College Review. Miscellaneous reports
from RAND and the General Accounting Office are also indexed for SCAMPI.
The resulting database serves as a current (1997 - present) guide to articles
on military and naval art and science, operational warfare, joint planning,
national and international politics, and other areas researched by JFSC
faculty, staff, and students. The index is updated quarterly. Retrospective
conversion for records from the past 40+ years is ongoing.
Other
Resources
Resources are links to research, development, and acquisition resources
produced by DTIC. Joint Resources are links to resources which DTIC has
produced for, or in coordination with, other organizations. Related Web
Links are links to resources which are not affiliated to DTIC but provide
information valuable to the Defense community.
MCTL
The Militarily Critical Technologies List (MCTL) is a documented snapshot
in time of the ongoing DoD MCTL Process. The technologies included in
the DoD MCTL support the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) objectives. The are
two versions, the Public Distribution MCTL and a Limited Distribution
MCTL which is restricted to the DoD and available on Private STINET
Search Tips
Case Sensitivity
Searches on DTIC's collections are not case sensitive. Use either upper-case
or lower-case letters.
Boolean Operators
Boolean operators are used to increase, decrease, and refine search results.
Boolean operators are AND, OR, NOT. Note:
The default Boolean is OR.
Examples :
AND: To locate documents containing the words environmental
and hazards enter: environmental and hazards.
OR: To locate documents containing the words nuclear or submarines
enter: nuclear submarines. Remember, OR is the default operator. You
do not need to key in the OR because it is automatically implied if
no other Boolean is entered.
NOT: Not is used to negate words or phrases from your search
query. To invoke the NOT operator you must immediately precede it with
the word AND. To locate documents about all vehicles except armored
vehicles, enter: vehicles and not armored.
It is important to note that unlike some search engines, boolean operators
are not case-sensitive when searching DTIC's collections.
Strict vs. Fuzzy Logic
Strict Logic searching imposes precise control over your search results.
This type of searching will often eliminate useful results because it
conforms exactly to the words the user enters. Strict Logic searching
is usually the preferred method of sea rchers seeking documentation on
a specific discipline.
Fuzzy Logic searching allows a more relaxed search environment than
Strict Logic. Unlike Strict Logic searches, Fuzzy searching will include
the retrieval of documents that contain only some of the words the user
enters. Note: Fuzzy Logic search ing requires that the Max Docs
Returned be set to All.
Example: "armored vehicles" and combat, will retrieve 7840 citations.
The same search using Strict Logic will retrieve 265 citations. Caution:
Fuzzy Logic searches require more processing time. Be prepared to wait.
Phrase Searching (adjacency)
To locate documents containing a phrase, the words must be enclosed in
quotation marks. This function ensures that one word is followed directly
by another in the retrieved documents.
Example : "chemical compounds" retrieves documents containing
the word chemical directly adjacent to compounds, (with no other words
between). Note: Phrase searching is effective for complete text
and most fielded searching. This function was formerly represented in
STINET by the ADJ operator. This operator is no longer a part of searching
DTIC's Collections.
Proximity Searching
Proximity searching provides a method of locating citations in which the
words you enter appear within a defined distance of each other. This allows
you to receive more accurate results.
Note : Proximity searching is bi-directional.
The syntax used for proximity searching is as follows : term1
within numberofwords term2. Note that the search engine
represents one word as 20 individual characters.
Example : To locate documents with the word aeroelastic within
8 words of composite enter the following: aeroelastic within 8 composite
Truncation
Truncation is a method of reducing a word to its root in order to retrieve
all of the word's variations. Truncation is represented by both the *
and % characters. Truncation is bi-directional.
Example : "connect*" or "connect%", will retrieve documents on
connect, connects, connector, and connectivity. "*polar" or "%polar" will
retrieve bipolar and unipolar.
Report Date Searching
Report date searching may be accomplished in two ways, specific date and
date range. All dates should be entered in the format YYYY-MM-DD. (Y -
year, M - month, D - day)
Examples Specific Date Search : To search for documents
with a report date of March 5, 1986 you MUST enter the date as 1986-03-05.
NOTE : When searching for a specific date, you must enter the same
date in the "From" box, and "To" box.
Date Range Search : To search for documents with report dates
that span a number of years, enter the start date in the "From" box and
the end date in the "To" box.
Searching on the Title Field
If it is known that a title contains punctuation, you MUST enter it with
punctuation enclosed in quotation marks. Example: "quasi-three-level lasers".
Phrase searching and Boolean operators can be helpful when searching for
titles where a limited number of words are known. Example: "quasi three"
will retrieve citations that contain those two words next to each other
in the title field. The AND Boolean operator will retrieve citations where
both words are present somewhere in the field. Example: "quasi and level"
Sorting Search Results
The search engine provides multiple sort options. The system automatically
defaults to term frequency count. This means that the highest ranking
document in your search results is based on the number of occurrences.
Search results can be sorted by various secondary fields such as date,
personal author, corporate author, and accession number. REMEMBER: The
primary sort of your search results is based on term frequency count,
and thereafter on your ch oice of secondary sort options.
Note : The sort default is set to ascending order, i.e., A-Z
for all fields except date fields. Date fields are set to descending order,
i.e., latest to oldest.
Special Characters
Terms/phrases or numbers which contain special characters must be enclosed
in quotation marks. Examples: "c4is&r;", or "f19628-84-c-0001"
Stop Words
There are no stop words. All words may be used in a search. Note:
Stop words are words that are so common and used so often that they were
not indexed for search and retrieval purposes. Many older databases and
search engines do not allow the use of stop words in a search statement.
Viewing Search Results
Results from Searching a
Database
Each document citation or record returned is ranked in order of relevance
to your query. Depending on the options chosen on your search form, each
record includes basic information like the title of the document as well
as the name of the data base. To view a citation/record or order a document,
click on the appropriate link in the far right column.
Ordering Documents
DTIC registered users may order documents directly from DTIC. You must
indicate your DTIC user code and method of payment (Deposit Account, or
major credit card). Because DTIC charges minimal fees for its services,
it is in the interest of organizations (U.S. government agencies and their
contractors) eligible to register with DTIC, to do so. See the Registration
Process and follow instructions. There is no cost to register for
DTIC services.
You may also order the document through DROLS or by calling DTIC's Reference
and Retrieval Services Branch at (703) 767-8274 or DSN 427-8274.
Those ineligible to register with DTIC and who wish to order unclassified,
unlimited DTIC documents should contact the National
Technical Information Service (NTIS) at 1-800-553-6847. NTIS OrderNow is an online
service, designed to help you easily identify and purchase information
products in the NTIS collection.
Downloading Full Text Documents
Most of the full text documents on STINET's web page are in Adobe
Portable Document Format (*.pdf) and are fairly large files.
Download
Adobe Acrobat 3.01
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