Searching for News in Factiva.com
(formerly Dow Jones Interactive)
Introduction
This is a quick guide to basic searching in Factiva.com. For further assistance please consult a member KSG Library's reference staff. Reference librarians are available Monday-Friday from 10am to 5 pm. Stop by, e-mail or call 495-1302.
What is Factiva.com?
Factiva.com is an archive of news and business information
from thousands of sources in many languages. It
provides the full-text of leading newspapers, including the
Wall Street Journal, as well as numerous other magazines, trade
journals, newswires, and television & radio transcripts.
It is especially useful for news from international sources.
Please note:
Op-Ed pieces from the Wall Street Journal are not included
in this collection. You can access them (with no charge) online
at the Wall Street Journal's website: www.opinionjournal.com.
How do I access Factiva.com?
From the KSG library
homepage, you can select Factiva.com from the
drop-down menu near the top of the screen. You can also
access it from the Harvard Libraries electronic resources menu.
Please note: Factiva.com is available only to members
of the Harvard Community with current Harvard ID's and PIN's.
Constructing a Keyword (Free Text) Search
After your Harvard ID and PIN have been authenticated, you will be taken to the Factiva.com home main search page. The most straightforward approach is to run a keyword (e.g. free-text search,) using your own search terms. Here are the steps for running a keyword search:
- The defaults are set for English and all publications If you want to select specific publications or languages other than English, consult the sections on Factiva Intelligent Indexing and Additional Options.
- Enter your search terms in the dialog box to the right of the "free text" label..
- Use the drop-down menu below the dialog box, to select the time period you want to search.
This search will retrieve articles written within the past 3
months that refer to both corporations and accounting rules.
More Search Options
- For additional search options, scroll down to the "More Search Options" area in the lower section of the screen
- The first drop down menu on the display allows you to select the part of the article your search terms should come from (you can choose full article, headline and lead paragraph, author, and more)
- The second drop down menu allows you to exclude "republished news" - a good idea for the most efficient searching.
- To change the default sort method (latest articles first) select an option from the last drop-down menu.
- When you are ready to run your search, click the green "run search" button.
Example of More Search Options menu
Using Connectors Effectively
Connectors should be used to show relationships between words and phrases. AND and OR work well when searching headlines, lead paragraphs, or other specific sections of the articles. When searching the full text, it is best to use the other connectors that allow for a more focused search.
- Use AND to specify that all terms must
be present in the same document in order for it to be retrieved.
(retrieves documents referring to both unemployment and free trade )unemployment and free trade - Use OR to connect synonyms or closely related words
or phrases.
(retrieves documents containing either global warming or greenhouse effect)global warming or greenhouse effect
- Use SAME to specify that the terms must be present
in the same paragraph.
(retrieves documents referring to the stock market in the same paragraph as consumer confidence)stock market same consumer confidence - Use NEARn to specify the proximity of search
terms in no particular order.
euro near3 poland
(retrieves documents containing the term, euro within
3 words of the country name, poland) - Use W/n to specify the proximity of search
terms to each other in the order given.
(retrieves documents in which the term, euro precedes,euro w/3 poland
by no more than three words, the country name poland.)
- Use Atleastn to specify that a word
or phrase must appear
a certain number of times.
(retrieves documents containing the phrase, security councilatleast3 security council
at least 3 times)
Combining Connectors
In many cases, you may want to use more than one connector
in your search. When doing so, it is a good idea to use parentheses
as you would in an algebraic expression to ensure that Factiva.com
processes your search terms correctly.
| (greenhouse effect or global warming) near5 automobile |
Additional Options
Searching by publication name
You can quickly limit your search to a single publication by
using a special field code in your search statement.
The field code for limiting by publication is SN= (Source
Name). Important Note: This type of search will work only
when the "full article" option is selected from
the "Search for free text terms in..." drop down menu.
For other options for searching by publication name, see the section on Factiva Intelligent Indexing.
| SN=wall street journal and atleast3 recovery |
(retrieves Wall Street Journal articles containing the word, recovery, at least 3 times)
Using Wild Cards (Truncation)
Use Wildcards and Truncation to search for variations in spelling and to search for the root of a term.
The asterisk (*) retrieves various endings on the root of a word.
merg* retrieves merger, mergers, merging, or any other word beginning with "merg".
The question mark (?) replaces a character in the middle of a word.
globali?ation retrieves either globalization or globalisation
Factiva Intelligent Indexing
Factiva's "intelligent indexing" provides a menu driven approach to finding specific types of information. It is particularly useful for finding material that focuses on specific countries or regions. It's also a handy way to browse through a list of languages, publications, or subject terms and pick the ones that are relevant to your research. Intelligent index searches can be combined with keyword searching; these methods are not mutually exclusive. Here's how to use Intelligent Indexing.
Start with the Intelligent Indexing menu
Click the + sign to the left of the category you want to begin with ( Region, Subject, etc.). Then scroll through the menu that opens and click on the items you wish to select. You can select more than one.
In the example above, Argentina and Brazil have been selected from the Region menu, under the sub category, Emerging Market Countries.
Once you have finished with a menu, close it by clicking the minus sign that displays to the left of its label.
You can then select additional categories, one by one, following the same procedures. Here's an example using the language category:
In addition to browsing through the options that are listed under each category, you can also search for a specific term. To do this, first, click the category you want to search. Then enter a search term in the dialog box that opens. In the following example, we entered the word, inflation in the "Find a Subject" box. Then, when it appeared under subject results, we clicked the term to highlight it.
As you make your selections, they appear highlighted in the "Currently Selected" box. Before running your search, you can also choose a date from the date selection drop down menu. Finally, if you want, you can add keywords in the free text box.
This search, in the example below, will retrieve articles from the past 6 months about inflation or prices in Argentina or Brazil, written in English, Portuguese, or Spanish.
Marking, Printing, and Downloading Articles
You can create a marked list of articles for viewing, printing, emailing, or saving by clicking the boxes that appear before each of the headlines in your search results. When you have finished marking articles, use the menu bar near the top of the screen. To choose a display format other than full article, use the drop-down menu on the right side of the screen to make a selection. When you are ready to view your selected articles, click the "eye" icon on the left side of the of the screen.
Example:
The window that displays your selected articles offers several options for delivery. To choose one, click the appropriate icon from the gray bar near the top of the screen. To save in rich text format, click the "RTF" icon. The articles you save this way can later be printed or displayed as nicely formatted Microsoft Word documents. If you are in the library or computer lab, when saving your files, please be sure to choose either the network or the "A" drive as the location. To email your results, click the "envelope" icon and follow the directions from there. To print, click the "printer" icon, which will present your articles in a printer friendly format. Then, use your browser's print command to activate the printer.
Important: After viewing your selected items, to return to the previous screen, click the "return to headlines" button at the top of the screen . Do not use your browser's back button.
Logging Off
When you are finished using Factiva.com, remember to log off by clicking "logout" at the right side of the menu bar on the top of the screen.
Example:
Prepared by Ellen Isenstein, Nov. 2003. Updated April 2004.