VDOT OneSearch: Quick Start Guide: Viewing Results

In our sample we searched for "covered bridges" in a total of 6 databases spanning all three subject categories.  Next we'll look at how the results are compiled. 

Three main parts of the search results screen to pay attention to are:

1. Topic clusters/dates and other "limits" on the far left.
2. Results tabs, which organize results by document "format" at the top.
3. Item records, which appear in the center and include details like: title, publication date, description, and the name of the database a citation was retrieved from.

1. Topics: Includes Topics (or subject areas) in addition to date ranges, sources, publication types and more.
Tip: At this point, adjustments can be made here to further refine or "narrow" the search results displayed in the center of the screen. 

2. Tabs: Tabs sort all relevant results by document format.
Example: Want to limit results to Articles & Reports? Click on that tab and it will re-focus to show all 191 Articles & Reports your initial search found, displayed in the center of the screen.  

3. Items: Individual item records are displayed in the center of the screen. They are ranked for approximate relevancy (the more stars the more relevant the document is to your query), with format information, date of publication, and database retrieved from. Each item is hypertext linked, as described next.

Each item listed is a "result" that could have come from any of the databases we asked OneSearch to search. Individual items are separated and displayed within your OneSearch results screen, as shown in the example below: 

OneSearch can only retrieve data provided by the original source, so if the original database did not have a publication date or an abstract, we can't reasonably expect that missing data to be reflected in OneSearch. Using the example shown above (which is fairly representative), here are a few things we can tell about this item:

• It is one of 191 items found in the search that falls into the format category "Articles & Reports".
• Its title is: Prioritization Framework for Asset Management of New Brunswick's Covered Bridges.
• It was published in 2020, in the periodical Journal of Constructed Facilities, Vol. 34, Issue 4.
• Full text is available in PDF format.
• The article has a 5-star relevancy rating, based on our search criteria.
• The article was retrieved from the ASCE Library database.

NOTE: At this point we are still reviewing results retrieved into OneSearch. The next step will take us from OneSearch to the article inside the database it came from. 

Clicking on an item's title opens a new browser window, where you will be taken directly to the item inside the database that it was found in. In this case, we're transported to the ASCE Library database (which includes more than 155,000 articles and papers), and are are taken directly to the item we're interested in. 

Now that we're in ASCE Library you'll notice the item is more fully described (author, abstract, etc.) and you'll find a link to the full text, as shown below: