Westfield State College Ely Library

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Mental Measurements Yearbook Contains descriptive information and full text critical reviews of more than 2,000 commercially available standardized English-language educational, personality, aptitude, neuropsychological, achievement and intelligence tests from the Buros Institute's Ninth through Fourteenth Yearbooks.. Each entry includes test name and classification; author(s); publisher, publication date; price; time requirements; existence of validity and reliability data; score descriptions; levels; and intended populations. Access the database on campus from the Ely Library Home page at:  http://www.lib.wsc.ma.edu/ under Quick Links to Databases or from off campus by clicking on Off Campus Access.
 

To Construct a Search	Results Page:	To Mark Records	To Save to Disk
Valid Search Statements		To Print Records	To Change Display Options
Combining Previous Searches		To Email Records
Limit Fields		To View Full Text Reviews	Help
Using the Index & Table of Contents			Start Searching

Basic Search Guide

The Search page allows you to construct search requests and determine how retrieved records will be displayed. Basic Search Screen

To Construct a Search:

1. Select one or more fields in which to search, or leave the selection as the default, "Words Anywhere".  Searching by Keyword(s) and Author are available in this database.
2. Type a word or phrase in the text entry area. Refer to Valid Search Statements  for examples of the types of searches you can enter.
3. If desired, narrow your search by a Limit Field.
4. Click Start Search. WebSPIRS performs the search and retrieves the Results List.
5. Search Builder allows you to do Boolean searching in multiple fields.

Valid Search Statements

Below are the types of searches you can create in the Search page.

Term: dyslexia Term with truncation or wildcards: trauma* , wom?n Previous search request number: #3 Number, in quotes if equal to previous search number: 1989 , "2" , "#5" Letters and numbers combined: 3m Phrase: behavioral management

Phrase with hyphens: drug-abuse Phrase with operator in quotes: death "near" experience Term or phrase limited to a field: smith in au Multiple terms combined with operators: adolescents or teenagers or young adultsAny of the above, grouped with parentheses for clarity: (dog or 1) near puppy   (Using Search Builder)

Combining Previous Searches:   You will have the option to combine previous searches in this system. To do so,

• Scroll down to see Search History, the complete list of searches already done.
• Click beside the searches you want combined, keeping in mind that any search with a small number of results will come out even smaller (often "0") when combined with other terms.

Limit Fields in Mental Measurements Yearbook

The limit fields listed below are specially indexed fields that enable you to choose from a specific set of field values. They allow you to limit your searches to records of a particular characteristic, such as test name acronym, Mental Measurements Yearbook number, or name of test reviewer.

Acronym (AC)  Accession Number (AN)  Test Author (AU)  Publisher (PB)

Publication Date (PD)  Reviewer (RE)  Review Indicator (RI)  Scores (SC)

Test Name (TN)  Mental Measurements            Yearbook (YB)

NOTE:  For more information on these limit options, see the online HELP file under "List of Fields"
 

Using Limit Fields in Your Search

How To Find...	Search Statement
information about a particular test	use the Test Name (TN) field; for example:  testwell wellness inventory in TN
tests published by Scholastic Testing Service that have two or more reviews.	scholastic testing service in pb and ri>=2 Combines searches of the Publisher (PB) and  Review Indicator (RI) fields.
reviews for a test by using its acronym	gds in ac retrieves the reviews for Gordon Diagnostic System
reviews by a particular reviewer	Fortune in RE  Retrieves reviews by a reviewer named Fortune.

 

Using the Index and Table of Contents

• The Index feature allows you to find out if a word or name is in the database, and if so, how to spell it correctly.  Click on the Index button at the top of your screen.  Enter your search term in the search box and click display.  Following your word when it appears in the list will be a number in parentheses.  This represents the number of records containing that term.  Bring it to the Search screen by clicking on the term.  This is a good way to locate an author's name.
• Note:  Mental Measurements Yearbook does not have an online thesaurus.
• The browsable Table of Contents allows you to find tests covered are listed by subject. Click on Table of Contents, then select the subject that you want. Select from the list of tests that appears.

Results Page

The Results page allows you to mark, print, save, and mail the records retrieved by the current search. In this database, terms of certain fields are linked. If you click on a linked term, WebSPIRS searches for the term.

To View the Full Text Reviews:

• Note: Full text reviews are in text format only.
• Click on View Complete Record, then select the field from the left side of the screen that you wish to view.
• Or you can Click Change Display, then select the box next to Complete Record, then click on Confirm Changes. The records will be re-displayed with the full text.

To mark records:

• Click in the box next to the record number, such as Record 1 of 235, for any record that you want to mark.

To print records:

• After marking records of interest, click the Print button in the citation screen [CAUTION:  Do Not Use the Netscape Print Feature yet, as this may log you out of the database]. WebSPIRS displays the Print Records page, which allows you to select and format records for printing.  Click Print Records, then click OK at the Print dialog page.

To save records:

• Click the Save button in the citation screen.   WebSPIRS displays the Save Records page, which allows you to select and format records for saving to a disk.  [CAUTION:  If you use the Netscape Save Feature you must change the file name extention to .txt]. Click Save Records, enter a file name, then click Save.

To E-mail records:

• Click E-mail. WebSPIRS displays the Mail Records page, which allows you to select and format records to mail to an e-mail address.  Be sure to include your full address:  username@foma.wsc.ma.edu

To change display options:

• Click Change Display to determine how many records to display on a page, which field names to display, how records are sorted, and which fields to displayed.

Help

For online help from within the database, click on the HELP button at the top or bottom of your screen.  There you will find information about the specific task you are performing, as well as links to Help Contents at the bottom of the screen.  Help is also available at the Reference Desk. Please Log Out when you are finished with your search

Page maintained by B. Hubbard

Last updated 7-15-03