TOWARD IMPROVED TECHNIQUES FOR ABSTRACTING AND EXTRACTING SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL LITERATURE

Part One of this report describes the activities leading to recommendations for revision and increased efficiency of application of the abstracting guidelines developed by Payne, Munger, and Altman (1962). Abstracts prepared on the basis of the revised guidelines may be expected to serve as effective substitutes for full, unabbreviated text in supporting performance of tasks such as rough screening and keeping generally aware of developments in a scientific field. Abstracts generated by application of the revised guidelines will not adequately support more sophisticated tasks (eg, problem solving, and highly specific screening or fact retrieval), whose performance depends upon precise correspondence between document parts and intended document use. Methods which have relevance for assuring such correspondence are discussed in Part Two. (Author)