Introduction to Bioinformatics
This textbook is a solid introduction to the science of Bioinformatics, an integration of computing skills and biological methods.
TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction to Bioinformatics
Chapter 3: Archives and Information Retrieval
Introduction
This chapter introduces the information retrieval skills that will allow you to make effective use of the databanks. The goal is to give you familiarity with basic operations. It will then be easy to improve and develop your technique. Indeed, embedded in many databanks are tutorials which make it easy to explore their facilities.
Database indexing and specification of search terms
An index is a set of pointers to information in a database. In searching the entire World Wide Web, or a specialized database in molecular biology, you submit one or more search terms, and a program checks for them in its tables of indices. The model is that the entire database is composed of entries - discrete coherent parcels of information. The information retrieval software identifies entries with contents relevant to your interest. An example of the simplest paradigm is that you submit the term 'horse' and the program returns a list of entries that contain the term horse.
A full search of the Web would turn up information about many different aspects of horses - molecular biology, breeding, racing, poems about horses - most of which you do not want to see. For a successful search, it is not enough to mention what you do want - you must ensure that the desired responses do not get buried in a mass of extraneous rubbish. (Of course rubbish is merely whatever other people are interested in.)
To focus the results, information retrieval engines accept multiple...
Copyright Arthur M. Lesk 2002 under license agreement with Books24x7
