Frequently Asked Questions
Below are responses to frequently asked questions (FAQs) or comments that we receive. Some questions address problems encountered while using the TEEAL system, and others address the administrative side of the project. This is by no means an exhaustive list. You are welcome to send other questions that you would like us to respond to, at: teeal@cornell.edu.
Using TEEAL:
- How do I browse through a particular journal?
- How do I view articles?
- How do I print an article?
- How do I find an article by subject? Say I’m searching for wheat and disease resistance.
- How do I find a particular article? I already have the citation.
- How do I look for everything published in 2003 about a particular subject, such as, soil erosion and cover crops?
- How do I search when I’m looking for different variations of a term? Say I want to find articles on farms or farmers or farming in Sudan?
- Why can't I search just by typing in keywords one after the other? If I search for farms cassava I get no results.
- What is a descriptor?
- What is the AND, OR, NOT menu for in Advanced Search?
- How do I search for a phrase?
- How do I mark records from my search results?
- How do I save records from my search results?
- When I open an article, this message pops up: “This file appears to use a new format that this version of Adobe Acrobat does not support...”
- Some journals don’t show the individual issues, just one big volume. How do I get to the articles?
- Why are some journals missing years and volumes?
- What if I have more complicated questions about using TEEAL?
- What if I find a bug in the software?
General FAQs:
What if I want to browse through a particular journal?
Click on the Journals A-Z tab. You can select journals by either scrolling to the bottom of the list, or click a letter to quickly jump to all journals starting with that letter. Click on the journal name to reveal all available volumes and issues. Click on an issue to see all articles in that issue.
How do I view articles?
If you are browsing, click through to the journal, volume/ issue, and article that you want. Click on the article link and you will see the full citation for the article. Click on the Full-Text Article in PDF link to open the article in Adobe® Reader®.
If you are searching, once you get to the Search Results page, you can view an article directly from the list by clicking the Full-Text Article in PDF link at the bottom of every result. Alternatively you can see the full citation first, and then click the full-text link at top right.
How do I print an article?
Once you open the article in Adobe® Reader®, you can use the Reader’s print functions. Type Ctrl+P or go to File > Print to print part or all of an article.
How do I find an article by subject? Say I’m searching for wheat and disease resistance.
If you have a particular subject keyword(s) in mind, you can use the simple search box on the homepage. Simply type in all the keywords and the AND operator wheat disease AND resistance to return articles with all of those keywords in their bibliographic (index) records. You can peform a slightly different search by searching for the whole phrase wheat disease resistance.
You can also perform an advanced search. Click the Advanced Search tab and type in the first keyword in the first field. In the dropdown menu at right, choose Descriptors. Do the same in the next row for all other keywords. For information on more advanced searches with Boolean terms (AND, OR, AND NOT), please see Combine Search Terms in the help section of the program.
How do I find a particular article? I already have the citation.
Go to Advanced Search and enter in either the author’s last name, article title, or other primary information. Choose the appropriate descriptor in the drop-down menu at right (author name, article title, etc.) and click Search.
How do I look for everything published in 2003 about a particular subject, such as, soil erosion and cover crops?
Go to Advanced Search. In the boxes type in your keywords, soil erosion and cover crops. In the Date boxes, enter the year range you want to search. If you only want one year, e.g. 2003, put that year in both boxes. Click Search.
How do I search when I’m looking for different variations of a term? Say I want to find articles on farms or farmers or farming in Sudan?
TEEAL automatically searches for grammatical variations on words. Simply add the keywords farm and Sudan to your search.
Why can't I search just by typing in keywords one after the other? If I search for farms cassava I get no results.
To search for multiple keywords in either Quick Search or in a single search field in Advanced Search, you must use a Boolean operator between terms - AND, OR, AND NOT. In this case, you need to type in farms AND cassava to get results. See Combine Search Terms in the help section of the program for more information.
What is a descriptor?
A descriptor is a keyword assigned by the author or the citation creator to help categorize, or tag, an article. Descriptors are words or subjects which feature prominently in the article. These words can include geographic terms, species names, and general subject categories. Articles about pests and diseases in rice grown in Laos would likely have descriptors such as rice, pest, disease, farming, and Laos.
What is the AND, OR, AND NOT menu for in Advanced Search?
These are called Boolean operators. They allow you to combine search terms to make complex queries of the database. AND is the default setting, which means the database will return records that include all search terms given.
- Use the AND operator to connect two expressions, both of which must be found in any document retrieved. For example: wheat AND disease will retrieve any document which contains both keywords.
- Use the OR operator to connect two expressions, at least one of which must be found in any document retrieved. For example: wheat OR rice will retrieve documents which contain either wheat, rice, or both.
- Use the AND NOT operator to exclude words or phrases from a search. For example: wheat AND NOT rust will retrieve all documents which contain the keyword wheat, except those documents which also contain the keyword rust.
Please see Combine Search Terms in the help section of the program for more information.
How do I search for a phrase?
Unless you use a Boolean operator (AND, OR, AND NOT) to separate search terms, TEEAL will treat any query as a phrase. If you type in integrated pest management you will search all documents which contain that phrase.
How do I mark records from my search results?
Click on each record you want to mark. If you want to mark all records on a page, click the Select All link just above the checkbox column. TEEAL will remember which records you mark if you browse through multiple pages of search results.
How do I save records from my search results?
Once you have checkmarked each result you would like, click on the Save Search Results link at the top right. There is a small purple disk icon next to the link.
When I open an article, this message pops up: "This file appears to use a new format that this version of Adobe Acrobat does not support..."
Some PDF documents are created in or designed for newer versions of Adobe® Reader®. In most cases these documents will open in old versions of Adobe® Reader® without a problem. Simply click OK in the dialog box.
Adobe® Reader® is a free program - ask your librarian about updating to a newer version.
Some journals don't show the individual issues. How do I get to the articles?
Some of our content that was originally scanned for use in TEEAL could not be kept as a collection of separate articles because they were not PDF documents. TEEAL works only with PDF documents, and we had to combine all the images of the articles into one PDF. Only a few journal issues have all articles combined into one PDF.
Why are some journals missing years and volumes?
There are a few journals in TEEAL, such as Crop Science, where the publisher has requested an additional delay before adding the content to TEEAL. Most content in TEEAL has a delay of one year in between its original publication date and its appearance in TEEAL. These other journals have extra delays of six months to one year.
What if I have more complicated questions about using TEEAL?
TEEAL has a comprehensive help system built right into the program. Go to the Help tab for a complete index of topics. If you have further questions that this FAQ or the Help section cannot answer, please send us an email and we will respond as quickly as possible: teeal@cornell.edu.
What if I find a bug in the software?
If you find an error in the software, please contact us immediately by email at teeal@cornell.edu. If we find problems, we will try to correct them right away.
How do you determine pricing?
Revenue from sales of TEEAL sets and annual updates cover the costs of their production and distribution, and of outreach and training activities done by TEEAL and ITOCA. The pricing structure is developed and updated periodically based on anticipated project expenditures and revenue.
Can annual updates be released any sooner?
IIt takes a full year to compile, index, and code a year's worth of journal articles into a working database. Thus our updates are always one full year behind.
How long will TEEAL be around?
As long as there is a demonstrated need and we have the ongoing support of our publishers and donors. We hope that free or low-cost internet resources such as AGORA (www.aginternetwork.org) will eventually eliminate the need for TEEAL.