This User Guide discusses how to use the Subject Index and the Journal Titles Index, and the "See" and "See also" cross references.

Subject Index

Subject index is a list of descriptors used to describe each journal's content. If you are looking for journals about a certain concept, this is a good place to start.

Start the process by clicking on the Subject Index link on the top banner. The link will open to the subject index browse page. This page has three sections: Alphabet List, Descriptor List, and Descriptor Content.

Alphabet List lets you jump around the alphabetically ordered Descriptor List by clicking on an alphabet.

Descriptor List shows all the index terms used to index the journal collection. Select a term from the list by clicking on it, and information about it will be displayed in the Descriptor Content section.

Descriptor Content includes the descriptor, other relevant terms, and journals indexed with the term as well as the database containing the journals.

In the Descriptor content:

• Clicking on a relevant term will bring you to its content.
• Clicking on a journal title will bring you to the journal's content page.
• Clicking on a database will open a new window to the database. You will need to login with your Rivier ID.

Journal Titles

The journal browse section contains a list of the indexed journals and other relevant information. You should start with journal browse if you have certain journals you want to look up.

Enter the journal browse section by clicking on the Journal Titles link in the top banner. Same as the descriptor browse page, journal browse contains three parts: Alphabet List, Journal List, and Journal Content section.

Alphabet List lets you jump around the alphabetically ordered Journal List by clicking on an alphabet.

Journal List shows the indexed journal titles in alphabetical order. Click on a journal title, and its relevant information will be displayed in the Journal Content section.

Journal Content is made up of three sections: journal name, descriptors, and database information.

• Journal Name:
  • The journal title and its alternative title, if there is one.
  • If the journal has a name change, and the current title is the new title, the previous name will be listed as the "Continues" field.
  • If the title is no longer used by the publication, and the publication is being continued with a new title, the new name will be given in the "Continued by" field.
    • Although these new and old titles represent the same journal, they are often treated as separate records in the database. It is recommended that you search with both the old and new title name.
• "Descriptors" are the index terms that describe what a journal is generally about. They are general and broad in nature, and is not used to describe the individual issue of the journal or a specific article. Click on a descriptor to see what other journals are indexed with it.
• "Database and database coverage" lists the databases that contain the journal, and the range of its coverage. Click on a database and a new window will open for the full text journal content. Rivier ID is required for login.

"See" and "See also" Cross References

"See" references are used in both Subject Index and Journal Titles Index. If a descriptor is followed by "See" another term, that means the descriptor is not the official expression in the thesaurus, and you should check the other term instead. If a journal title is followed by "See" another title, that means the journal title you looked up is not the official name of the publication, and it is entered as its official name in this database.

"See also" references are only used in the descriptor content section. The references recommend terms that are relative to the current descriptor. If you would like to expand your search, the "See also" references are a good place to start.