UNESCOTERM user guide

UNESCOTERM is the Translation Section’s terminology and reference search database, managed by the Terminology, Documentation and Reference Unit. It is multilingual (Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish) covering UNESCO’s fields of activities. It can be accessed on the Intranet at http://unescoterm.hq.int.unesco.org/ or on the Internet at http://termweb.unesco.org/.

The UNESCOTERM Search Menu comprises “ Search in” and “Search for”.

The drop-down list (scrolling list) in the box “All subject fields” shows all the domains available. At present UNESCOTERM covers 18 subject fields. To see them click on the down arrow. A search can be carried out in one subject field by selecting it (from the drop-down list) or throughout the database. By default, the option is search in “All subject fields”. Once you have selected a subject field you go to “Search for” and type your query in a search box. Search can be carried out in any of the six languages.

Search options

A.      Searching for an acronym (any language);

B.      Searching for a term (any language).

A.      Searching for an acronym: If you are looking for an acronym, type it in the assigned search box next to “Acronym” (irrespective of the language).

If you are searching for the acronym IOC, type IOC in the assigned search box and then click on “ ” or hit “Enter”. The search engine tracks down only an exact match. The acronym IOCSOC, for example, will not be tracked down.

B.      Searching for a term (irrespective of the language): type the term in a search box. For example, if you wish to search for the term “oceanography”, simply select the appropriate subject field or keep the default “All subject fields”, and then type the term in the search box. The search engine will track down all entries (records) containing the term in the requested subject field or throughout the database, as the case may be.

If you are searching for two terms, e.g. the term “oceanographic” and the term “meteorological”, after selecting the subject field, type “oceanographic” in one search box and “meteorological” in a second search box. The search engine will track down all entries containing both terms in the requested subject field or throughout the database, as the case may be. By default, the Boolean operator “AND” is automatically applied.

If you are searching for the term “regional” adjacent to the term “meteorological”, after selecting the subject field, type “regional meteorological” in one search box. The search engine will track down all entries containing the term “regional” adjacent to  “meteorological” in the requested subject field or throughout the database, as the case may be. The combination “regional specialized meteorological”, for example, will not be tracked down.

At present, you can combine up to four terms; the search engine will track down all entries containing the four terms in the requested subject field or throughout the database, as the case may be. Inside each box, you can perform an exact search with no limitation of term/word combination.

Preferences

The menu allows you to create your own search profile by selecting the languages you would like to see displayed on screen. To do so, from the “Display results” leave the in the selected languages and remove the from the others by clicking on each . By default, the system displays the six languages. You can also decide whether this should be applied only for a current search, a current session or always. To do so, from the “Keep preference” leave the in the selected choice and remove the from the others by clicking on each . By default, the system keeps the option “This search only”. You can also choose the alphabetical order in which the display should be operated. By default, the system displays the results in English alphabetical order.

Once you have selected a subject field, typed your query and selected your preferences, you click on or hit “Enter”.

The answer to your query will then be displayed on the screen. The number of hits is given as well as the subject field(s) in which the answer to your query has been located.

The display sheet gives the term/title followed by an acronym displayed on the right side of the screen, if any. In some cases, definitions or relevant information are displayed in “Note”.

Searching Tips

Wild card search

% is the wild character (joker): you can use it to replace any character. You can use more than one % for one term.

Left truncation

If you type the term “communication” preceded by a space, the search engine will track down all entries containing the term “communication” but will not include such terms as radiocommunication or telecommunication.

Right truncation

If you type the word “environment” followed by a space, the search engine will track down all entries containing the term “environment” but not “environments”, “environmental”, and “environmentalist”.

Right and left truncations

You can combine both “right and left truncations”. If you type “communication” preceded and followed by a space, the search engine will track down all entries containing the term “communication” but not “telecommunications”.

Specific cases

Spelling

United Nations usage is followed.

Hyphens

If you are looking for a record containing ”south-east” you should type “south-east” in one search box. The search engine will track down all records containing “south-east” only, while if you type “south” in one search box and “east” in a second search box, then you will get all records containing “south” and “east” and “southern” and “eastern”. A compound term is treated as one.

If you are looking for a record containing “south” and “east” you should type “south” followed by a space in one search box and “east” followed by a space in a second search box. You thus eliminate records containing “south-east” and “southern and eastern”.

If you type “Inter-African” in one search box you will get records containing “Inter-African” only, while if you type “inter” in one box and “African” in a second box you will get in addition to ‘Inter-African” all records containing “African” and “International”, “Pan-African” and “International”.

Diacritic signs

In French “e”, “é” and “è” are treated as one letter. “Équipe” would be tracked down whether your search is “équipe” or “equipe”. In Spanish” “o” and “ó” are treated as one letter. You can search “organizacion” or “organización”, the search engine makes no difference between stressed/unstressed characters.

Uppercase and lowercase

The search engine is not case-sensitive. You can type “Education” or “education” or “EDUCATION” - it makes no difference.

Stop words (empty words)

There are no stop words. Words such as “of”, “for” in English, “de” and “dans” in French are searchable.

Syntactic order

The syntactic order is irrelevant. You can search for “international” in one search box and “oceanography” in a second search box or “oceanography” and “international”, and the same terms will be retrieved.

Navigating in the database

Move from one box to another

When you type your query to move from one box to another, you either use the mouse or the TAB Key.

Page forward and page back (scroll up and scroll down)

Use the page up/page down keys or the vertical scroll bar with the mouse. The scroll bar is located at the right edge of the screen.

Jump to the first record displayed or to the last

To jump to the first record displayed, use the vertical scroll bar with the mouse or use the shortcut key CTRL+up.

To jump to the last record displayed, use the vertical scroll bar with the mouse or use the shortcut key CTRL+down.

Cut and paste

To copy a record or a part of it: select the text to be copied (the text only, not the display), click on “Edit” and choose “copy”; or use the shortcut key CTRL+C. The selected data is now in the clipboard. To insert it in your document, click on “paste” from the “Menu Bar” or use the shortcut key CTRL+V. To copy a linguistic version of a record, just double click on it.

Display

The display sheet gives the term/title followed by an acronym displayed on the right side of the screen, if any. In some cases, definitions or relevant information are displayed in "Note".

Hyperlinks

Hyperlinks [link], if any, are displayed on the right side of the screen. A hyperlink is a link to either texts (terms of reference, statutes, conventions etc.) or Internet sites.

Print

You can print by clicking on “File” from the “Menu Bar” and then click on “print”. You can also print a “selection”.

Another query

To initiate another query, click on “Back to requesting form”. You can also click on “Back” from the Menu Bar. In this case, remember to clear your previous query by clicking on “ ”.

Back/Forward

If you want to go back to the “Menu”, click on “Back”. If you want to execute the previous search, click on “Forward”.

MISCELLANEOUS TIPS

·      You should refine (narrow) your search by combining four terms and using terms with very low frequency or with high retrieval value.

·      Search for singular rather than plural.

·      Search for masculine rather than feminine.

·      Make a root search if you are not sure of the grammatical form of a term. If you type “educat” you will get “educate”; “education”; “educational”, etc.

·      If you can’t find a verbal form such as “frozen (post)”, try the verb ‘freeze”.