General tips on searching

Phrases can be entered without inverted commas, eg theory of mind

The truncation symbol * is useful for searching for words that begin with the same root, eg autis* will retrieve autism and autistic; school* will retrieve singular and plural uses of the word school.

Combine search terms in the same search box with &, / and ! for Boolean operators AND, OR and NOT:

  • & for AND. This narrows your search because both terms must occur in the record.
    eg Asperger* & motivation
  • / for OR. This widens your search and is useful when you are searching with alternative terms for the same or similar concepts, or related topics of interest.

    ABA/ applied behavio* analysis;
    drug therapy/ pharmacotherapy/ psychopharmacotherapy
    pitch/ musical ability

  • ! for NOT. This excludes terms from your search.
    eg services ! adult* will retrieve records about services, but exclude those mentioning the terms adult or adults.


Search terms can be entered in more than one search box at a time, for example the author and the keywords field. The little box to the left of each search box contains the Boolean operators, AND, OR and NOT, for combining searches in different search boxes. The default setting is AND, but it can be changed by use of the drop down arrow.

An example search might be for an article by F. Volkmar on the subject of drug treatment in autism. In this case enter Volkmar in the Author search box, and drug in the Keyword box, and leave the Boolean operator as AND.

If you want to find articles about respite care, but not those that are about residential respite care, enter respite care in the Keyword box, and residential in the abstract box, changing the Boolean operator to the left of the Abstract box to NOT.

Help for different fields

  • Author
    All records are searchable by author.
    In this database personal authors have been entered in the format of surname followed by initials.
    Enter surname followed by initials if you know them, eg Smith D.
    For joint authors enter with &, eg Baron-Cohen & Wheelwright.
    Items by four or more authors have all been entered under the first authors name only followed by et al, eg Croen L. A. et al.
    Items authored by a corporate author are entered under its name, eg Department for Education and Skills.
  • Title
    Enter as much of the title as you feel will make your search precise.
    eg handbook of autism and pervasive will retrieve Handbook of autism and pervasive developmental disorders.
    If you don't know the full title but just a phrase in it, enter the phrase, eg supported employment, or enter words you know are in the title linked by &, eg diagnosis & age.
  • Source
    You can search here for articles published in a particular journal, eg Journal of autism and developmental disorders.
  • Keywords
    Keywords are assigned to each bibliographic to give the main topics covered in the work.
    Use the word wheel to see the list of keywords that have been used and select from it. Type the word in the Find box, highlight and click on Paste. Add as many keywords from the list as you think are relevant. Combine your keywords with &, / or !, (AND, OR or NOT) in between each as appropriate. You will find the system puts in OR / as the default.
    & narrows the search, / widens the search.
    eg services & autism gives results where both keyword terms have been applied.
    Social skills teaching / social skills groups gives results where either term has been applied.
  • Abstract
    Each item in the database has an abstract or summary describing the contents.
    Use the &, / and ! signs to narrow, widen or exclude terms from your search.
    Use the truncation symbol * to search for word roots which have been used in different grammatical forms.
    Use round brackets to group elements of your search string.
    eg safety & (road/fire) will give you results with safety and road in the abstract or safety and fire in the abstract.
    The term you are searching for may have just a passing mention in the abstract. Therefore some of the records retrieved may not be as relevant as you would find in a keyword search.
  • Year published
    Limit your search to items published after a certain date using the greater than sign >.
    eg >1999
  • Free text search
    This search box covers three areas, title, keywords and abstract, at once. If you enter a term here it will retrieve records where your term has been used in either the title, the keywords or the abstract.
    Each item in the database has an abstract or summary describing the contents.
    Use the &, / and ! signs to narrow, widen or exclude terms from your search.
    Use the truncation symbol * to search for word roots which have been used in different grammatical forms.
    Use round brackets to group elements of your search string.
    eg autis* & (dance therapy/movement therapy) will give you results with any word beginning with autis* and either the term dance therapy or movement therapy in the title, keywords or abstract.
    The term you are searching for may have just a passing mention in the abstract. Therefore some of the records retrieved may not be as relevant as you would find in a keyword only search.

Results

Your results are shown in a list with brief details of each title, five records at a time. They are presented in reverse chronological order with the most recent publications first. Choose View details to see the full record.

The full record for each item provides essential information for tracing the publication.

The full record for books will show author/s, title, year published, abstract, keywords, publisher, publisher's address, and ISBN.

Records for journal articles and book chapters will show author/s, title, year published, source, ie journal title, volume, issue and page references, or bibliographic details of the book the chapter is in. The abstract and keywords are given. The address information is the correspondence address of the author.

In NAS library

If the full record shows an entry saying In NAS Library at followed by a number, letters or the square bracket symbol ], the item should be available for reference in the library. Visits to the library are by appointment only. Contact us on +44 (0)20 7903 3599, or email info@nas.org.uk

Availability

Some items are available from the NAS Publications Department. They may be bought from our online shop. A link to the shop is given. Select each item you wish to purchase and a new window will open where you can add that title to your online shopping basket. If you prefer, you can purchase the book by contacting the NAS publications department by telephone or in writing.

Some items are available from The National Autistic Society Information Centre (subject to copyright law restrictions). To request a photocopy you must complete a copyright declaration/order form. You must sign the declaration affirming that the request is for your own private study or research for a non-commercial purpose. Copyright law restricts you to no more than one article from any one issue of a journal, and no more than one chapter of a book.

The charge is £3 per article. The maximum number of photocopied items you can request at one time is ten.

Every item that can be ordered from the NAS Information Centre will have an icon with an envelope on it next to it (the Order icon). Simply select that icon for each title you would like a photocopy of. A new window will appear headed My Request list. It will list each item you have selected. You are only allowed to order up to ten items, and it will not let you choose more. You can at any time remove items from the list in the My Request list window by selecting Remove. When you are ready select Process my list in the top right hand corner of the My Request list window. 

If your computer allows pop-ups, the copyright order form will appear in a new window with all your choices entered on it. Print out the form using the printer icon on your browser. Complete the rest of your details by hand and sign. Post or fax the form with your payment to:

Information Centre, The National Autistic Society, 393 City Road, London EC1V 1NG

If your computer does not allow pop-ups you will be taken back to the search screen, where you will see this message:

If you are having problems with the print or order form, it may be that your browser has blocked pop-ups. Please allow pop-ups for this site or click on this link. 

Select the link, and print out the form using the printer icon on your browser. Complete the rest of your details by hand and sign. Post or fax the form with your payment to:

Information Centre, The National Autistic Society, 393 City Road, London EC1V 1NG

Fax: +44 (0)20 7833 9666. 

Printing

You can print the details of records by selecting the printer icon by each one you choose. A new window headed My Print list will appear listing each record you have selected so far. At any time you can choose Process my list in the top right hand corner of My Print list. If you select this, and your computer allows pop-ups, another window will appear with your chosen records. Then simply use the printer icon on your browser.

If your computer does not allow pop-ups, you will be taken back to the search screen, where you will see this message:

If you are having problems with the print or order form, it may be that your browser has blocked pop-ups. Please allow pop-ups for this site or click on this link. 

Select the link, and then use the printer icon on your browser.