Segment 3: Glean & Note Patterns

This third phase overlaps with the previous one. Still gleaning information from the abstracts, the focus here shifts from ferreting out additional search terms to noting patterns.

What types of patterns? That depends on your particular goals. Here are a few samples.

• Counts of hits by terms, field, and time period. You may wish to note trends in a field' s interest in a concept chronologically. Doing so can give you a sense of the historical shifts in that field' s pursuit or usage of a concept of interest to you. Or, you might want to compare the chronology of a concept' s popularity among multiple fields. In either case, you'll be well-served by keeping track of how many hits your search terms return of materials published by unit of time such as a decade. Clear as mud, yes?

  Here's a made-up example. Let's say that the keyword "thought mapping" was virtually absent from a given bibliographic database until 1960. Broken down by year of publication, the items found fall out like this:

  • before 1960-no hits
  • 1960-1970- 10 hits
  • 1970-1980- 345 hits
  • 1980-1990- 189 hits
  • 1990-2000- 181 hits

• Nuances of concepts by field. For example, consider the term 'placemaking.' The concept of placemaking pertains to the material and social construction of human habitat. A comparison of the two abstracts below suggest differences in the material/social emphasis. One example is from anthropological literature, the other from art literature.