Introduction to Library Research

Glossary Of Library and Research Terms

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Note: The words that appear in bold in the text of the definitions are also explained in this glossary.

A list of all the main sections of the book organized by the order in which they appear. The table of contents usually includes the introductory material, the chapter headings, and any appendices or indices. It appears near the front of the book, after the title page and is useful for determining how the book is organized and what it covers.

Tabloid

A small format newspaper, issued on a regular basis. Tabloids range from free throw-away papers covering local news to the sensational publications found at supermarket checkout counters.

Thesaurus

A reference source that lists synonyms and words with related meanings. It may list antonyms or words with opposite meanings, as well. Thesauruses are arranged in two different ways—alphabetically with a dictionary format, and the thematically with words grouped by broad topics. The classic edition of the well-known Roget’s International Thesaurus is arranged thematically and must be used with the extensive index at the back.

Title page

A page at the beginning of a book which is the most authoritative source of information for a citation. It includes the author’s full-name, the complete title, the place of publication, and publisher. The verso or backside of this page is called the copyright page. It gives the official publication date, a history of the publication, and additional details such as the publisher’s address, the copyright notice, and cataloging information.

Trade journal

A periodical which is published for particular trade or industry. An example of this type of publication would be The Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media.

Truncation

Many search engines and databases that use keyword searching allow the user to search for any words that start with the same sequence of letters or same root word by placing a symbol at the end. The asterisk (*) is frequently, but not always, used to truncate a word. This method is very useful for finding words that have the same or similar meaning but have slightly different endings. For example, the words transport, transports, transportation, transporting, etc. can all be found by truncating as follows: transport*. See also: Wildcards.

URL (Uniform Resource Locator)

The unique address that identifies a web site. Here are the main components: “http://” which tells the computer what communication language is being used This is often followed by “www.” which indicates that the site is on the world wide web. This is followed by the name of the server on which the site is located. The final component of the server address is usually the domain, or three letter code, proceeded by a dot, that indicates the type of site (i.e. .org, .gov, .com, etc.). This is followed by forward slashes which indicate additional directories and file names to locate the desired site more exactly. Here is an example: http://www.bakersfieldcollege.org.

Validate sources see Qualify sources

Volume number see Issue Number

Web browser see Browser

Web page

A single page or document on the World Wide Web which is linked to other pages as a group to create a web site.

Web site

On the Internet, a group of pages that are interconnected. As a unit this linked collection of pages represents an organization, business, or an individual on the World Wide Web.

Wildcards

Some search engines and databases allow the user to use a typographic symbol such as ?, ! or * to replace one or more letters in a word. The database will then search for words that match the remaining letters. This is especially helpful when the user is uncertain of spelling or looking for a word than can be spelled in more than one way. Here is a keyword search using a wildcard in Gale Expanded Academic: wom?n and body image. This will find articles that contain either the words woman or women and the phrase body image. See also: Truncation

World Wide Web

An international network of connected computer systems which all understand the same computer language (HTTP). It allows any computer on the system access to text, graphics, music and the other data on the computers that is compatible with the HTTP protocol.