Intermediate User Scenario - Search by Number form
| Who |
Neha, a first year graduate student |
| Class |
Governance and Public Policy |
| Assignment |
Use Senate Report 108-359 to analyze legislative intent behind Senate Bill S. 2840 from the 108th Congress |
| Objective |
Locate Senate Report 108-359 |
| Starting Info |
Number of the report and the number of the associated bill |
- Selects the Basic Search form from the ProQuest Congressional options for Congressional Publications searches.
- Types Senate Report 108-359, but gets no results.
- Clears the form.
- Types Senate Bill S. 2840, but gets no results.
- Realizing that the search involves numbers, clicks the Search by Number tab.
- Noting that the second set of options, labeled Bibliographic citations, includes an option to type in a publication number.
- Since the default publication type, H. Rpt., does not seem to be a match for Senate Report, selects S. Rpt. from the drop-down list, which seems to be the most probable match.
- Compares the default number in the next box to the number of the report being searched, realizes that the number refers to the Congress, and selects the 108th Congress from the drop-down list.
- Realizing that the first part of the number 108-359 is already represented by the Congress number drop-down list, types 359 in the box, and clicks Search.
- Retrieves one result—the exact publication sought.
- Clicks the title and is taken to the finding record for Senate Report 108-359.
- Reads the abstract summary to obtain an overview of the report.
- Clicks the highlighted report number in the Doc-No segment to retrieve the full text.
- Although nothing else is needed, goes back to the Basic Search form to see if Senate Report 108-359 could have been accessed from there. This time, types S. Rpt. 108-359 and gets the same result the Search by Number search returned; also tries typing S. 2840 on the Basic Search form and gets a results list that includes the desired report.
Tip:
Number searches can be performed from the Basic Search and Advanced Search forms, but unless you learn and remember exactly how to enter numbers in the search form, you should use the Search by Number form drop-down lists to help construct an accurate search.
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