Using the Checkpoint Thesaurus

When performing a search, you may wish to locate those documents that refer to your topic but do not contain the precise keywords you used when constructing your search. The Thesaurus feature lets you indicate that documents containing either the keywords you enter or their synonyms should be retrieved by your search.

Each practice area has its own thesaurus. For example, if you are conducting a search of Federal sources, the list of terms related to your keywords - as displayed by the Thesaurus - appears specifically in Federal practice area documents.

On the other hand, if you are searching sources drawn from several practice areas, the Thesaurus will generate an integrated list of related terms where they occur in any of the practice areas you have selected.

The Thesaurus is available for both Terms & Connectors and Natural Language search. The functionality provided by the Thesaurus varies depending on which search method you are using.

Note: For users of earlier versions of Checkpoint, Thesaurus replaces and enhances the functionality formerly provided by the '$' wildcard character.

To incorporate the Thesaurus into your  Terms & Connectors search:

1. Type the keywords that best describe your research topic in the Keywords field of the Search screen.
2. Select Terms & Connectors as your search method by clicking the option below the Keywords field.
3. Click the Thesaurus/Query Tool link.
   
   The Thesaurus/Query Tool dialog box opens.
   
   

3. Click the Thesaurus link to view a list of synonyms for your Current Query keywords. The synonyms will display in the 'Select Alternatives' pane.
4. To add any word listed in the Alternatives pane to your search, click it once.

• To add several related terms to your search simultaneously, select each keyword, press and hold the CTRL key, then scroll through the list and click the terms you require. Repeat this procedure for each keyword.

• To add all terms related to your search, click the link marked 'Include all Thesaurus Alternatives in Current Query' at the right of the screen. 

Every time you add a related term to your search, the Current Query window updates to reflect your decision.

Note: You can activate the Automatically apply all thesaurus terms option from the Search/Display options screen if you want all available thesaurus terms to automatically be applied to your keyword searches.

Note that you can also manually make changes to your query in the Current Query window. If you do so, make sure each term is separated by the bar (|) character.

You can add different search syntax and connectors by selecting the desired connector in the Connectors box and clicking Append.
 

Click OK to accept the changes you have made to your search, or Cancel if you wish to revert to your initial search terms.

The Thesaurus dialog box closes and you are returned to the Search screen, where your revised search query appears in the Keywords field.

Using the Thesaurus Spell Checker

The Thesaurus/Query Tool also includes a Spell Checker to check for spelling errors in your Checkpoint searches. To use this feature:

1. Click the Spelling link in the Thesaurus/Query Tool Window.
   
   

2. If necessary, enter any search terms you want to spell check in the Current Query field. Note: Any search keywords entered in the Thesaurus or Query Tool functions will already be in the Current Terms field.

3. Click the Check Again button to run the spell check. If Checkpoint recognizes any spelling errors, it will load the word(s) in question in the Select Term field. Alternate suggestions for the word will be displayed in the Select Alternative box.

To incorporate the Thesaurus into your Natural Language search:

1. Type the keywords that best describe your research topic in the Keywords field of the Search screen.
2. Select Natural Langauge as your search method by clicking the option below the Keywords field.
3. Click the Thesaurus/Query Tool link.

The Natural Language Thesaurus/Query Tool provides the same functionality as the Terms & Connectors Thesaurus with the addition of the Restrictions panel:



Use the Restrictions panel to refine your Natural Language search by requiring or excluding words from the search phrase.

• Select Require for a term to require any search results to contain that word.
• Select Exclude for a term to exclude that word from the query.

Click OK when you have completed setting up the Restrictions for the query to return to the main search screen.

Related topics:

• Introduction to Searching

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