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Humanities Abstracts

Revised 9/14/2009

Database name: HumanitiesAbs
Short database name: WHUM
Available on: FirstSearch Test Server and Production Server

Why select this database?

  • The Humanities Abstracts database contains abstracts for more than 580 humanities publications.
  • It abstracts feature articles, book reviews, interviews, obituaries, bibliographies, original works of fiction (including dramas and poems), and reviews of plays and television and radio programs.
  • It excludes editorials, letters to the editor, news, ephemeral announcements, cartoons, and advertising.
  • Each record contains a bibliographic citation for an article, book review, or other item in a journal and library holdings for the journal title.
  • It is produced by The H.W. Wilson Company.
Subjects included
archaeology art classics
film folklore food
journalism linguistics music
performing arts philosophy religion
space world history world literature

Coverage/update frequency

Covers January 1984 to the present with abstracts starting in March 1994.
New records are added weekly.

Record display information

List of FirstSearch fields for Humanities Abstracts and the MARC fields to which they correspond:

Field Name MARC field(s)
Dates 008/<date>
SICI 024/a,2,3
Accession Number 035/a
Cataloging Source 040/a,c
Author 100/a-e,q,t
Corporate Author 110/a-d,n
Uniform Title, M.E. 130/a
Uniform Title 240/a
Title Statement 245/a-c,h,n,p
Augmented Title 246/a
Label "Augmented Title:" 246/i
Physical Description 300/b
Title Series Note 440/a,v,x
General Note 500/a
Type of Computer File 516/a
Abstract 520/a,b
Version Note 534/n,p
Language 546/a
Continuation Text 580/a
Subject Added Entry, Personal Name 600/a-d,q,t,x-z
Subject Added Entry, Corporate Name 610/a-d,n,t,x-z
Subject Added Entry, Uniform Title 630/a,d,x-z
Subject Added Entry, Topical 650/a,x-z
Subject Added Entry, Geographic 651/a,x-z
Author 700/a-e,q,t
Added Entry, Corporate Name 710/a-d,n,t
Added Entry, Uniform Title 730/a,g
Title Cross Reference 740/a
Country of Publication 773/c
Host Item Entry 773/g
Reviewed Journal Phrase 773/m
Abbreviated Title of Journal 773/p
Journal Title 773/t
Jounal ISSN 773/x
Reviewed Item Authors 779/a
Reviewed Item Edition 779/b
Publisher/Distributor of Reviewed Item 779/d
Reviewed Item Uniform Title 779/s
Reviewed Item Title 779/t
ISBN for Item Being Reviewed 779/z
Instructions 856/i
Full Text Format (e.g. ASCII, PDF) 856/q
URL Link to External Website or Link to Full Text Article (Direct Article Access) 856/u
Note (e.g. OCLC Direct Article Access, size) 856/x
Materials Specified (e.g. Cover Art, Local Ownership Info) 856/3
Database from which Full Text Article is Accessed 856/8
"Non-English" 917/j
Library Holdings 948
Detailed holdings information is available in FirstSearch Z39.50 Configuration Guide - Element Set Names.
Volume Number 949/a
Issue Number 949/b
Page Numbers 949/c
Supplement 949/d
Date 949/e
First Page Number 949/f
Marketing Defined Date 949/g
Article Contents 949/l
OCLC Record Display Format 949/x
Record Type 960/g
Related Resource Materials Specified 971/r
Related Resource URL 971/s

Indexes

What follows is a list of FirstSearch indexes and the combination of USE and STRUCTURE attributes that can be used to access them.

  1. For any FirstSearch label where multiple USE attributes are listed all the attributes will provide the exact same search result sets.
  2. Any USE attribute that is not marked as a restrictor is available via the SCAN service.
  3. Restrictors are specially implemented indexes and are not available for scanning. Terms for these must be ANDed with other terms to limit the size of the result set. See the table provided for each restrictor to determine valid terms and their associated meaning.

FirstSearch Indexes and USE and STRUCTURE attributes used to access them:

Index Description Use Attribute Structure Attribute Indexed Fields and Subfields
Keyword (kw) Any 5110 2 Includes fields in the following indexes:

Abstract
Source Phrase
Subject
Title

Keyword All

(new index beginning 12/16/2001)		 Any

1016

2 Includes fields in the following indexes:

Abstract
Author
Source Phrase
Subject
Title

Abstract (ab) Abstract 62 2 520/a,b
Author (au, au=) Author-name 1003 1, 2 100/a-e,q
110/a-d,n
700/a-e,q
710/a-d,n
Article Type (at=) Content-type 1034 1 949/L
Corporate Author (co=) Author-name-corporate 1005 1 110/a-d,n
710/a-d,n
Descriptors (de, de=) OCLC Defined 5650 1, 2 650/a,x,y,z
First Page (pg) OCLC Defined 5006 2 949/f
Geographic Coverage (gc=) Name-geographic 58 1 600/z
610/z
630/z
650/z
651/a,z
Issue (is) OCLC Defined 5004 2 949/b,d
Language (ln=)* Code-language 54 1 546/a
917/j
Named Person (na=) Subject-name-personal 1009 1 600/a-e,q
Named Corporation (nc=) OCLC Defined 5610 1 610/a-d
Accession Number (no) Control number-local 12 2 035/a
Publisher (pb) Name-publisher 1018 2 779/d
Publication Date (pd) Date 30 2 949/e
Place of Publication (pl) Name-geographic-place-publication 59 2 773/c
Record Type (rt) Material-type 1031 1 960/g
Reviewed Journal Phrase (rj=) OCLC Defined 5949 1 773/m
Standard Number (sn, sn=) Identifier-standard 1007 1, 2 773/x,z
Source (so) Title-host-item 1033 2 773/t
Source (so=) Title-host-item 1033 1 773/t
Subject (su, su=) Subject 21 1, 2 600/a-d,q,t,x-z
610/a-d,n,t,x-z
630/a,d,x-z
650/a,x-z
651/a,x-z
Subject All (sa=) OCLC Defined 5090 1 Entire field beginning: 600/a
610/a
630/a
650/a
651/a
Title (ti) Title 4 2 130/a
240/a
245/a,b,n,p
246/a
730/a
740/a
779/t
Title (ti=) Title 4 1 130/a
240/a
245/a,b,n,p
246/a
730/a
740/a
779/t
Volume (vo) OCLC Defined 5013 2 949/a
Year (yr)* Date-publication 31 2 008/<date>

* Also a restrictor.

Restrictors

The following restrictors can be used only in conjunction with an index search.   They must be added to an index search with the Boolean AND in order to retreive results:

Restrictor Type Input Use Attribute Structure Attribute
Year * All years
Single year
Range of years		 —
19xx, 20xx
19xx - 20xx		 31 5
Language * No Limit
English
Non-English		 —
english
nonenglish		 54 1
Record Type No Limit
Article
Book review
Literature		 —
art
brv
lit		 1031 1
Limit to Full text Limit to full text —
Full text		 6002 2
Limit to Holdings OCLC Institution symbol Enter symbol for OCLC Institution 56 2

* Year and language are both indexes and restrictors.

Sorting

Search results in the Humanities Abstracts database can be sorted by Author (1003), Title (4), Source (1033), and  Publication Date (30).

General punctuation rules

(exceptions are made, but these are generally correct):

Punctuation Rule Punctuation Rule
" Delete and collapse $ Delete and collapse
' (apostrophe) Delete and collapse % Delete and collapse
. Delete and collapse * Delete and collapse
, (comma) Delete and collapse + Delete and collapse
; Delete and collapse > Delete and collapse
: Delete and collapse < Delete and collapse
() Delete and collapse @ Delete and collapse
<> Delete and collapse ? Delete and collapse
{} Delete and collapse -- Delete and collapse
[] Delete and collapse / Substitute a space
= Delete and collapse - Retain and index
! Delete and collapse & Retain and index
# Delete and collapse

Searching tips

Keyword ALL searches (1016): The Keyword All search finds information in these fields: abstract (520/a,b); author (100/a-e,q, 110/a-d,n, 700/a-e,q, 710/a-d,g,n, 773/a, 790/a-e,q); source (773/t); subject (600/a-d,q,t,x-z, 610/a-d,n,t,x-z, 630/a,d,x-z, 650/a,x-z, 651/a,x-z); and title (130/a, 240/a, 245/a,b,n,p, 246/a, 730/a, 740/a, 779/t).

Using limiters: You can limit searches by Year (31), Language (54), and Record Type (1031).

Copyright

Humanities Abstracts, copyright the H.W. Wilson Company. All rights reserved.