Vocabulary

Vocabulary & languages
in searching
Connection:
indexing
searching
© Tefko Saracevic 1
Basic assertion
Indexing and searching:
inexorably connected
– you cannot search that that was not
first indexed in some manner or other
– indexing of documents or objects is
done in order to be searchable
• there are many ways to do indexing
– to index one needs an indexing language
• there are many indexing languages
– even taking every word in a document is an
indexing language
Knowing searching is knowing indexing
General definitions
Vocabulary [Encarta Dictionary]
“1. words known
LANGUAGE - all the words used by or known to a
particular person or group, or contained in a
language as a whole”
Language
“1. speech of group
the speech of a country, region, or group of
people, including its diction, syntax, and
grammar
2. system of communication
a system of communication with its own set of
conventions or special words”
From general to specific
• These general definitions are valid

for application in indexing &
searching to define
– index terms
– indexing vocabulary
– indexing language
– search terms
– search vocabulary
– query (request, search) language
Specific
Index term
a word or phrase that denotes (describes)
a concept & connotes (implies) a class
index term “table” describes a
and implies many kinds of tables:
for which, if desired, we may have more specific index terms
Specific ...
Indexing vocabulary
a set of index terms used in a domain or
for a set of documents or objects
• it could be even a single document or object
e.g. a book
Indexing language
an indexing vocabulary together with
rules – syntax, grammar – for their
application and use
Specific ...
Search terms
a counterpart to index terms, also
denoting a concept and connoting a
class for a search
Search vocabulary
a set of search terms in a domain or
available in a systems
Query language
a search vocabulary together with rules
for their use in searching
More
“An index language is the language
used to describe documents and
requests.
The elements of the index language
are index terms, which may be
derived from the text of the
document to be described, or may be
arrived at independently.
The vocabulary of an index language
may be controlled or uncontrolled.”
(van Rijsbergen, 1979)
Controlled vocabulary
• Predetermined – indicating what
terms to be used in indexing
– may show definition of and relations
between terms
• examples: thesaurus, subject heading list,
classification
• Also indicates terms that may be
selected for searching
• An indexing AND a searching tool
• Human constructed
– and costly to construct and use
Uncontrolled vocabulary
• Derived from documents
– nowadays automatically
• using various ways or algorithms
– constant issue: which way is “better”
• Used to construct inverted indexes
• a concordance, such as of the Bible,
indicating place and position of each word
mentioned in the text is an inverted index
• monks used to do it in 12th century, computers
do it today
• Inverted indexes are used for free
text searching
Controlled vs. free text searching
• Endless source of debate &
controversy
• But, each has its place for
given circumstance &
retrieval goal
• Each has strengths &
weaknesses
• can you list or find a list
comparing them?
• Users mostly use free text
searching
• Professional searchers use
both as warranted
• As option:
KNOW THY CONTROLLED
VOCABULARY
Inverted indexes
Useful to know how they function to
understand search & retrieval. Steps:
1. Each document is indexed
– every word in a document is taken as
index term with exception of stop words
– position in text is noted
2. Indexes for all documents are merged
• index terms are arranged alphabetically
in the bowel of the system
• under each index term are document numbers in
which it appears & position in text for that
document
So, when you search
for digital AND libraries:
1. computer takes all documents under
digital
2. and all documents under libraries
3. compares to “see” which documents have
both terms and then
4. provides you the list of those documents
in a default format or you may choose a
format
• This is also called “coordinate indexing”
– coordination is done at time of searching
Variation: when you search
for digital (WITH) libraries or
“digital libraries” i.e as a phrase
1. computer goes through the same steps as
before but then also
2. “looks” for documents where digital is
positioned right before libraries
• remember: computer “knows” position of
each term in each document, each
sentence
• So searching for a phrase is a form of
searching of terms connected with AND
but in a given sequence
Example of inverted file
Doc # Text
For simplicity documents
1 Slow brown truck arrived have one sentence.
2 Shipment of brownies damaged in a fire Stop words: “a,” “of,” “in.”
3 Delivery of brownies arrived in a slow truck
4 Shipment of brownies arrived in a truck Inverted index
Term Position in doc number
arrived (1:4), (3:4), (4:4)
Search for slow AND truck gets as
results documents 1 and 3 since brown (1:2)
both contain slow and truck brownies (2:3), (3:3), (4:3)
damaged (2:4)
delivery (3:1)
Search for slow (w) truck retrieves only
document 3 in which slow is 7th and fire (2:7)
truck is 8th, they are right next to shipment (2:1), (4:1)
each other. Doc 1 has both words, but
not next to each other thus not slow (1:1), (3:7)
retrieved truck (1:3), (3:8), (4:7)
Thesaurus
• Good old Peter Mark Roget had a most
useful idea & did a great job
• Following this idea thesaurus became
THE major tool for controlled
vocabulary in information retrieval
(IR)
– starting in 1950’s & to this day many IR
thesauri have been developed
– all have a similar structure & function
– but they are difficult & costly to
construct
What is a thesaurus?
“For writers, it is a tool like Roget’s one
with words grouped and classified to help
select the best word to convey a specific
nuance of meaning.
For indexers and searchers, it is an
information storage and retrieval tool: a
listing of words and phrases authorized
for use in an indexing system, together
with relationships, variants and synonyms,
and aids to navigation through the
thesaurus.”
(Milstead, 2000)
more…
“A thesaurus to an information
scientist is a controlled set of the
terms used to index information in a
database, and therefore also to
search for information in that
database so the same concepts are
represented by the same term.”
(Batty, 1998)
Basic thesaurus components
• For each entry thesaurus has a
classification grid:
– Descriptor (DE) – an index term that has
• Scope note (SN) – context in which used
• Broader terms (BT) – higher in a hierarchy
• Narrower terms (NT) – lower in a hierarchy
• Related terms (RT) – other connected descriptors
• Used for (UF) – synonyms that are not descriptors
– Note: not all of these may be present for every
descriptor
• A searcher or indexer can use these as a
guide for selection/rejection & for browsing
to get ideas
Examples of thesauri
• Thesauri have been constructed for
great many domains, from A to Z
– here are some lists
• international & multilingual thesauri
• online thesauri
• among them ERIC Thesaurus (we use it for example)
– BUT: different thesauri may and do treat
the same descriptor (index term)
differently
• having different, more or fewer narrower,
broader, related terms
• thus it is dangerous to use them interchangeably
Standard structure
With variations on the theme, thesauri have similar
conceptual structure to guide searcher or indexer:
Broader terms - BT
Used for - UF
Related terms - RT Descriptor - DE
Synonyms
Scope note - SN
Narrower terms - NT
Note: Every descriptor doesn't have to have all of these
Same thesaurus but …
• Examples of ERIC (Educational Resources
Information Center) thesaurus as used
differently in different systems:
1. ERIC own system
2. ERIC file on DIALOG (begin 1)
3. ERIC file on OVID (accessible through RUL)
• Notice how each uses thesaurus displays &
search in its own way, but principles
still the same
• Oh well…
ERIC online thesaurus on ERIC
• Allows for
– searching for words that are included
in descriptors by category or all
categories
– browsing alphabetically
– browsing in one of about 40 categories
• Search for library in all
categories found 76 descriptors
that have “library” included
• Out of these selected library
education
ERIC online thesaurus on ERIC
descriptor library education
ERIC thesaurus on DIALOG
• In a convoluted way ERIC thesaurus (and
other ones) can be displayed on DIALOG
(and other vendors, such as OVID)
• How?
– begin in file 1 – ERIC
– then expand a desired term – here we used term
library
– you will see under R that certain terms have
related terms – meaning that these are
thesaurus entries
– then expand on one of those to see related
terms
– then you can browse & choose which ones to use
in search
• And here are Print Screens of the process
going …
Expand
library
RT indicates
related
terms
going …
45237
items
have
library
This one has

14 related
terms
going …
We now chose descriptor LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION and expand on that

one
Neat trick:
You can expand on expand
& get related terms
These are now going …
R terms of
various type
14 related
terms for this
one are listed
Can expand on
this one to see
other RT
You can also

select any of
these to search
going …
We have now selected r10 – library expenditures
going …
And this is
what we got
Now we can view some items in a chosen format

or we can further modify this search - add refine, …
gone This is one
of the items
we got
Descriptors
with * are
major
Descriptors
used for
this item
o nal
i ti s
Add x term
e
ind
ERIC thesaurus on OVID
(accessed through RUL)
For library
ask to map
as
thesaurus
term
going …
There are
more down
there but we
choose this
one to
expand
going …
Entries for
descriptor Electronic
Libraries
Continue to
search for
AND
going …
Retrieved &
ready to
display
gone Choose format you
want for this item
Relevance feedback
• Method for using information in
items judged relevant to further
refine or change the search
– e.g. in relevant items we can browse
titles, descriptors, identifiers,
abstracts … to get leads for further
search terms & tactics
• in some advanced systems this may be
done automatically
Query expansion
• Method for adding, modifying,
changing search terms in query
– to broaden, narrow, focus, change … terms
• Many sources can be used
– relevance feedback, thesauri,
dictionaries, textbooks, documents,
catalogs, & people: users, colleagues,
your own mind & experience
• Some systems suggest terms for query
expansion
Conclusion
• At the base of all
searching are
– terms
– vocabularies
– languages
– but a variety exists
• In reality in searching
there is no completely
controlled or
uncontrolled vocabulary
– matter of degree
– & most importantly,
matter of mastery
symbolically;
controlled & free vocabulary
thank you!

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Vocabulary & languages

• These general definitions are valid

index term “table” describes a

and implies many kinds of tables:

for which, if desired, we may have more specific index terms

Note: Every descriptor doesn't have to have all of these

This one has

We now chose descriptor LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION and expand on that

You can also

We have now selected r10 – library expenditures

Now we can view some items in a chosen format

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