Evaluation of thesauri
INFO 5515: Organization of Information
Your task:
Compare how different thesauri cover the following concepts:
– assisted human reproduction
– intellectual disabilities
– ethnic groups
Not to be too particular, but it is better to organize this paper by concept. For each concept, you will look at all 5 thesauri, find the preferred terms for that concept in each thesaurus, and, finally, briefly discuss the terms found in the thesauri.
NOTE: You may wish to investigate the concepts a bit first before looking at the thesauri.
How to:
Look at the following thesauri. In each one, search for one of the concepts listed above. (NOTE: you will look at all three
concepts, but it may be easier to do each concept one at a time.)
1. APAIS Thesaurus: http://www.nla.gov.au/apais/thesaurus/
2. Eurovoc Thesaurus: http://europa.eu/eurovoc/
3. Government of Canada Core Subject Thesaurus: http://en.thesaurus.gc.ca/
4. Legislative Indexing Vocabulary: http://www.loc.gov/lexico/servlet/lexico?usr=pub-13:0&op=frames&db=LIV
5. UNESCO Thesaurus: http://databases.unesco.org/thesaurus/
Find the authorized (preferred) terms that best match the concept in each of the five thesauri. If there are scope notes, UF, BT, NT, or RT, include those in your tables (see below) as well.
Present your findings in a table; you will need a table for each concept, so you will have total of three (3) tables in your
paper. You can use the template provided below, or create tables of your own. If terms don’t exist, simply enter “n/a”.
APAIS EUROVOC GoC LIV UNESCO
Preferred term
Scope note
Top Term*
UF (used for)
BT (Broader term)
NT (narrower term)
RT (related term)
*Some thesauri place their preferred terms in large classes, which may be called top term, main term, subject category, etc. It doesn’t matter which heading you use, as long as its scope is clear.
For each concept, briefly discuss your findings for each thesaurus. You do not need to describe each search in detail, but if a concept, search, and/or thesaurus is particularly difficult, useful, or remarkable in some way, you should discuss it.
After you have discussed each concept, analyze and evaluate the thesauri, paying particular attention to the currency, sensitivity, and/or appropriateness of the descriptors used. You should also look at similarities and differences between the following elements in the respective hierarchies:
– scope notes
– equivalent terms
– UF, BT, NT, RT
Finally, provide a brief analysis and evaluation of the overall quality, interface, and user-friendliness (accessibility) of each thesaurus. If you have recommendations for improving the quality of any/all of the thesauri, feel free to comment!
A note about References: if you use a definition for a concept from an outside source, make sure that you cite it. You do not need to cite the thesauri themselves, unless you are taking a quote from one of their source pages. (I.e., do not cite the thesauri for the information in your tables.)
The structure of this assignment will be:
Introduction
concept 1
table
brief discussion of findings
concept 2
table
brief discussion of findings
concept 3
table
brief discussion of findings
analysis and evaluation of all 3 concept and findings
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