Doctor of Ministry Project Papers

The Results Screen will show the brief records of the items found that match the search criteria. The brief record shows:

• the availability status of the bound copy.
• the shelving location.
• the call number.
• a link for the electronic copy.

Full Record Display

Clicking on the title link in the brief record will redirect to the full item record. The full record has detailed information about the bound copies of the paper and shows:

• the number of bound copies.
• the availability status of each copy.
• the shelving location of each copy.
• the call number of each copy.
• a link for the electronic copy.

Search Tips*

There are many ways to narrow basic searches in WorldCat Discovery to obtain meaningful results.

• Boolean Operators
  • Use the Boolean operators AND, OR, and NOT to group, include, or exclude terms in your search. Capitalize all letters in the operators to prevent erroneous search results. 
  • ex. mystics AND women NOT basketball 
• Parenthesis
  • Use parentheses around a Boolean string to create more precise searches.
  • ex. (celtic AND prayer) AND (ireland NOT scotland) 
• Quotation marks (" ")
  • Use quotation marks around a string of terms to search for an exact phrase.
  • ex. "new interpreters bible" 
• Truncation
  • Use an asterisk (*) for approximate term entries. Enter at least the first three letters of a term.
  • ex. proc* will produce search results for proc-ess, proc-lamation, pro-claimed
• Wildcard
  • Use a pound sign (#) to represent a single character. Enter at least the first three letters of a term.
  • ex. singl# will produce search results with the term single present
  • Use a question mark (?) to match 0-9 missing characters including no additional characters. Enter at least the first three letters of a term.
  • ex. christ? will produce search results with the terms Christi, Christ's, Christians, and so on.
• Author Searches
  • It can be difficult to use keyword searching to find all of the material by a specific author in WorldCat Discovery. Different content providers use different forms of a name. Use the search strategies below to conduct an effective author search.
    • Use a combination of Boolean operators, parentheses and quotation marks to refine your search.
      • If you enter John Godsey in the Basic Search box, the system returns 994 records in which John and Godsey appear in item records either separately or together.
      • If you enter "John Godsey" with quotation marks, the system performs an exact phrase search and returns 12 records containing John Godsey.
      • If you enter ("John D. Godsey") OR ("John Godsey") as a search query, the system identifies records that contain either exact phrase and returns 76 records. 
      • If you know varying forms of an author's name, use them to construct your searches. The same strategy works for other searches as well.

*From OCLC's:
"Search and use query syntax" https://help.oclc.org/Discovery_and_Reference/WorldCat_Discovery/Search_in_WorldCat_Discovery/010Search_and_use_query_syntax. OCLC support (2023, Feb 6)
"Search tips" https://help.oclc.org/Discovery_and_Reference/WorldCat-org/Search/Search_WorldCat_org/00Search_tips. OCLC support (2023, Feb 14). 

WorldCat Indexes

• WorldCat Discovery searches indexes in the WorldCat database, and you can search them directly.
• The WorldCat database indexes use two character labels followed by a colon (:) or by an equal sign (=).

Index Keyword Search

To search for words anywhere in a selected index, use the colon. For example, the search query in the title (ti) index, 

ti:encyclopedia of religion in america,

returns results where the individual words encyclopedia religion America appear anywhere in the title. A search yields 25 results.

Index Phrase Search

To search for a phrase anywhere in a selected index, use an equal sign. For example, the search query in the title (ti) index,

ti=encyclopedia of religion in america,

returns results where the phrase encyclopedia of religion in america appears anywhere in a title that may be found in the record including the table of contents. The search yields 6 results.

Useful Indexes

Some indexes and their labels that may be helpful in your searching include:

• Title
  •  ti: or ti=
• author 
  •  au: or au=
• subject 
  • su: or su=
• call number
  •  nu: or nu=

"Search and use query syntax" https://help.oclc.org/Discovery_and_Reference/WorldCat_Discovery/Search_in_WorldCat_Discovery/010Search_and_use_query_syntax. OCLC support (2023, Feb 6)

"Types of searches" https://help.oclc.org/Librarian_Toolbox/Searching_WorldCat_Indexes/Search/Types_of_searches. OCLC support (2020, July 24)

Sample searches and query strings

The query strings below are helpful examples of how to locate D.Min. project papers in the library. Please note the use of the query string ("d.min.") AND ("wesley theological seminary"). By using these grouped terms and adding other terms, searches will be limited to D.Min. project papers in the library collection. You can use the sample queries as a map to search other material in the online catalog and discovery service, just omit the d.min. query string.

1. Browse all WTS D.Min. project papers 

• Enter ("d.min.") AND ("wesley theological seminary") - See the results here. The results include the full list of D.Min. project papers which can be sorted by date and filtered by different facets.

2. Browse D.Min. project papers by call number and publication year. [Currently, only applicable for titles prior to 2014.]

• Enter (nu=D.Min.) AND yr=2010 - See the results here. The system searches the number and year indexes for the specified terms.

3. Locate project papers on a particular subject.

• Enter ("d.min.") AND ("wesley theological seminary") AND (su:John Wesley) - See the results here. The system searches the subject index specifically for terms John Wesley.
• Enter ("d.min.") AND ("wesley theological seminary") AND (su:"Wesley, John") - See the results here. By adding the quotation marks and changing the form of John Wesley's name, the system returned item records where the terms "Wesley, John" are treated as a subject phrase, not as individual terms.
• Enter ("d.min.") AND ("wesley theological seminary") AND ("urban ministry") - See the results here. The system searches for the terms urban ministry occur anywhere as a phrase.

4. Search project papers by the author.

• Enter ("d.min.") AND ("wesley theological seminary") AND (terri simpson) - See the results here. 
• Enter ("d.min.") AND ("wesley theological seminary") AND (au:simpson, terri) - The system will search specifically in the author index for the terms terri simpson 

5. Search project papers by title.

• Enter ("d.min.") AND ("wesley theological seminary") AND (ti:chaplains) - See the results here. The system searches the title index for the term chaplains wherever it occurs in the title of an item record.
• Enter ("d.min.") AND ("wesley theological seminary") AND (ti=Miriam as exemplar for the Army chaplain) - See the results here. The system will search specifically in the title index for the terms as an exact phrase.  

6. Search project papers by keywords.

• Enter (("d.min.") AND ("wesley theological seminary")) AND (kw:ireland OR kw:scotland) - See the results here. This search finds D.Min. project papers that refer to Ireland or Scotland. The system will search the keyword index for the terms as they occur in item records.