Button for Project Description PageButton for Database Instructions PageButton for Database Search Page
Button for IT Overview PageButton for Bibliographic PageButton for IT Road Maps Home PageInternal link for Quick Search sectionInternal link for Advanced Search sectionInternal link for No Hits sectionInternal link for Sort Order sectionInternal link for Viewing, Printing, Marking and Exporting Records sectionInternal link for the Bibliograhic Records sectionInternal link for Indexed and Non-Indexed Fields sectionInternal link for the Identifiers sectionButton for IT in the Home PageButton for Comments PageButton for NSF HomepageButton 
for SRS HomepageNSF logoTitle - IT Road Maps Database Instructions

The IT Road Maps database is contained in Reference Web Poster (RWP), a bibliographic software package that can be used on the Web. When you click on a Road Map link on the Welcome to the IT Road Maps page, you will open a RWP Quick Search page that is pre-set for searching that Road Map. Items have been tagged for that Road Map using a special keyword known as a "$identifier." You must retain the $identifier to stay inside the Road Map.

Quick Search

To do a fast, simple search of authors, keywords, dates, and/or journal names, use the Quick Search page. Otherwise use the Advanced Search page explained below. To search for a subset of a specific Road Map, add your own keyword(s) after the $identifier  for the Road Map that is already displayed. Separate all keywords with a space. Do not use anything else, such as a comma or plus sign, to join keywords. Do not use $ with your own keywords. This symbol is reserved for the identifiers which have been preset for items inside specific Road Maps.

To ensure that you stay inside the individual Road Map you have selected, do not delete the $identifier  that is already displayed in the search bar. Doing so will cause the search engine to search the entire database for the new keywords that you have entered.

The Quick Search page searches only those Road Map fields that are indexed—authors, keywords, periodical, and year. To search titles and other non-indexed fields, use Advanced Search.

Advanced Search

To perform a thorough specialized search, and to search titles, use Advanced Search. To perform an advanced search, click on the Advanced Search button that you see on the Quick Search page. A similar button on the Advanced Search page will bring you back to the Quick Search page.

To perform an Advanced Search within an individual Road Map, you must manually enter the $identifier  that identifies the Road Map to be searched. See the list at the end of the instructions. (If you move back and forth between the Quick Search and the Advanced Search pages, the $identifier will disappear. You can re-enter it manually.)

From the Advanced Search page, you can search a number of different fields: authors, keywords, periodical, year, titles, all indexed fields, all non-indexed fields (see below). The fields above in italics are the indexed fields. The "All non-indexed fields" selection searches all the rest of the fields in the record, which vary from record to record. Boolean searches (and, or, not) are also possible from the Advanced Search page. To search every field in the database, search for the same keyword(s) in both "All indexed fields" and "All non-indexed fields." Connect these two lines of search instructions with an "or" as shown below (where the term "computer" is being sought):

What to Do If You Get No Hits

A number of things can cause a search to come up with no hits. Try some of the following suggestions to seek additional hits:

  • Use the singular of any plural search terms.
  • Use the root word (e.g., use "tax" instead of "taxation").
  • Avoid coupling search terms (i.e., use search terms one at a time).
  • Use alternative search terms (e.g., instead of "information technology," use "computer" or "communications" or "network").
  • Search more than one Road Map or search the entire database.
  • Remember, the Quick Search page does not search titles. Use Advanced Search to search for words in titles.

Sort Order

References are sorted in order by date (descending) and then by author.

Viewing, Marking, Printing, and Exporting (Downloading) Records

After you click the Start Search button, RWP will return a list of all the records that match your criteria. To view an entire record, click on the small page icon to the left of the record.

Once you identify a record that you wish to keep, you can mark the record by clicking the small check box to the left of the record. As you accumulate marked records, you can view just the marked records by clicking the Show Marked List button. To unmark an individual marked record, click the check box again. To unmark an entire list, click the Clear Marked List button.

To print a list of records or an individual record, use the Print button on your browser. Unfortunately, it is not possible to print an entire search result except by using your browser's Print button to print each page, one by one.

Once you have identified annotated records in which you have an interest, you can mark them by clicking in the box immediately to the left of the record and export them into one of several bibliographic formats by clicking on the Export button (compatible formats include ProCite, Reference Manager, RIS and MEDLARS). You can also cut and paste into other software packages. Click on the Software Help button to reach the RWP help screen for additional details.

Road Maps Bibliographic Records

The items in the database are organized into bibliographic records. Each of these records contains a number of fields. The primary fields in each record (not every record has every field) are:

  • Reference Type (e.g., book chapter, electronic citation)
  • Author(s), primary and secondary (e.g., editors)
  • Title, primary and secondary (e.g., volume containing a specific reference)
  • Journal Name
  • Publisher
  • Date of Publication
  • Volume & Issue
  • Pages
  • Notes
  • Abstract (available for about 1/3 of the records)
  • URL (and a live link) for online items
  • Keywords

Indexed and Non-Indexed Fields

Some fields are indexed for quick record retrieval via the Quick Search page. The indexed fields are authors, keywords, periodicals, and year. Unfortunately, because of a limitation of the current version of the database search engine, titles are NOT indexed, and records cannot be retrieved on the Quick Search page by searching for a word in the title. However, titles can be searched on the Advanced Search page. All fields other than the four listed above are not indexed. Non-indexed (as well as indexed) fields can be used for record retrieval on the Advanced Search page. Generic reference types (e.g., book chapter, journal article, electronic citation) cannot be a search term.

Identifiers

The database uses a special keyword, known as a "$identifier," to separate references in the different Road Maps. You can search within a specific Road Map by using a $identifier which is automatically inserted into the search bar when you first click on one of the Road Maps links. To stay within the Road Map you have selected, do not delete the $identifier  that you see initially in the search bar. Simply add any additional keywords, separated by a space, to search for a subset of the Road Map.

Other special $identifiers identify certain categories of records. These special identifiers are listed below:

Road Map $identifiers
$commerce
$government
$science
$education
$home
$policy

$community
$employment
$productivity
$structure
$globalization

Other special $identifiers  identify certain categories of records. These special Identifiers are listed below:

Other Category $identifiers
$all
$website

$data
$centers

In addition to the $identifiers, records generally have ordinary keywords that identify the subject matter of the records.