Introduction and Basic Instructions for the Department of State U.S. Foreign Affairs on CD-ROM (USFAC) What is it? The U.S. Department of State Foreign Affairs on CD-ROM (USFAC) provides full text access to a selection of official statements, testimony, transcripts, foreign policy fact sheets, and country information released electronically by the U.S. Department of State from January 1990 to September 1992. The USFAC contains more than 800 major U.S. foreign policy documents including key speeches from the Secretary of State, statements, testimony, briefings by the President, and other senior officials of the Bush and Clinton Administrations. There are six major publication groups represented on the USFAC: U.S. Department of State Dispatch, Dispatch Supplements, Country Background Notes, Daily Press Briefing Transcripts, Congressional and Special Reports, and a selection of eight Regional Maps. Consult the main menu options: Overview, How to Use and Search for Information, and All Files Listed Above for a more thorough explanation on the variety of publications available on the USFAC, time coverage, and effective ways to search for information. Searching the USFAC 1) Select Department of State Foreign Affairs from the main menu. Select (1) Run the USFAC. There are two levels for searching on the USFAC: General Text Search and Advanced Text Search Using the General Text Search 2) At the flashing cursor, you are prompted to type in Name/Word or Phrase: Type in the name(s) or word(s) you want to search. For example, (Gorbachev) or (Terrorism). Type in the phrase you want to search. For example, (new world order). a) Press F2 (Search) or to begin searching or use the down arrow key to continue the search. b) At And: (Here you can type in another word or phrase to search. And is a Boolean operator that will combine your search terms). You have the option to type in another search term or use the down arrow key to leave it blank. c) But Not: (Here you have the option to type in a term that will be excluded from the search). Type in a term or use the down arrow key to continue the search process. d) Press F2 (Search) or to retrieve the list of citations to documents. The window box indicates the number of matching documents. 3) Press F2 for a Results List. The citations give document title and the date of release. 4) Highlight a citation by using the arrow keys, and press to view the document. 5) Press page-up, page-down or arrow keys to scroll through the document. The terms you have entered to search will be highlighted in the text. 6) Press [Esc] to return to Results List. Advanced Text Search 1) After selecting (1) Run the USFAC, move the cursor down to the Advanced Text Search. There are 5 fields for constructing a search: Speaker Country Subject Region Info Category 2) Speaker: If you want to search for State Department documents by a certain speaker, type in the speaker's last name. a) Press F5 (Index) for an alphabetical listing of the last names of speakers that are indexed. b) Press page-up, page-down or arrow keys to locate a speaker's name to search. Highlight the speaker's name by using the arrow keys and press to select. 3) Use down arrow key for selecting a Country field. Press F5 (Index) to highlight a Country and press to select. 4) Use down arrow key to select a Subject field: Press F5 (Index) to highlight a subject you want to search, and press to select. 5) Use down arrow key to select the Region field. Press F5 (Index) to highlight a region of the world you want to search. Press to select. 6) Use down arrow key to select an Information Category. Press F5 (Index) for a listing of types of publications by the Department of State. Highlight the type of publication you want to search, and press to select. You may also specify a date (use; mm-dd-yy) to restrict references found to a specified time period. Note: The Advanced Text Search allows you to be specific in selecting search terms. You may also leave the fields blank. If you add too many search terms there may be few or even no matching references found. 7) Press F2 or to begin searching for your terms. Useful Function Keys Search Options F7 1) After selecting the search terms, you have the option to press F7 to modify the search. This function allows you to specify the number of documents to be retrieved. Type in a specified number over the default number in the box. a) Use down arrow key to select word proximity distance: Specify a number that you want your search terms to be in proximity distance of each other in the text. b) Use down arrow key to select the Thesaurus. The Thesaurus is used to pick up on additional spellings or designations of your search word(s). c) Press F2 (to save your search option instructions). d) Press F2 (Search) again or to begin the search process. Note: It is important to delete your search options after you have finished searching. e) Press F7 (Search Options). f) Press F10 (Quit) to erase search options and set options back to default. Searching Table of Contents F4 1) Press F4 for a listing of publications and reports. Highlight the publication by using the arrow keys. Press to view the publications. a) Press F7 for an outline of the document. b) Press F8 to view the next document. c) The publications that have a + (plus sign) can be expanded up to 5 levels. d) Highlight the publication and press the right arrow key for further selection options of documents according to year, geographic area, and subject. e) Highlight the file with the arrow key and press to view the document. Getting Help (Alt-H or F1) Press Alt-H or F1 at any time to bring up contextualized help screens. The help function is useful for understanding and using the function keys. For instance, pressing F4 (Table of Contents) or F5 (Index), you may press the F1 (Help) key for an explanation of the function key. Word Wheel (Alt-W) 1) When constructing a search, you may press Alt-W for words that are indexed in the USFAC. a) Press Alt-W. In the text box, type in one or two letters of a term you want to search to verify the spelling. The window will display an alphabetical listing of the words and names indexed. b) Use the arrow keys, or page-up, page-down keys to locate and to highlight the term. Press to select term. Side Search F5 1) While in an actual document, you may search for other terms without going back to the general search screen. a) Press F5 to begin the side search. b) Position the cursor at the beginning of the word or phrase that you want to search. Press C to highlight the first letter of the word. c) Move the cursor to the end of the word or phrase and press C again to highlight the entire word or phrase. d) Press for a side search pop-up menu. Highlight the appropriate search option and press . The USFAC Basic Commands [F1] = Help. Press F1 for help and instructions during a search. [F2] = Search. Press F2 to begin searching. [F3] = New Search. Press F3 to clear previous search and to begin a new search. [F4] = Table of Contents. Press F4 to obtain a listing of State Department publications. Highlight a publication and press to view. [F5] = Index. Press F5 for a comprehensive alphabetical listing of words indexed in the USFAC. Type in the first letters of a word you want to search and press to select for searching. [F6] = Select Database(s). Press F6 for a listing of publications (databases) available for searching. Highlight All or select individual databases to search. Press F2 to save selections. [F7] = Search Options. Press F7 to modify your search. You have the option to specify the maximum number of documents, word proximity distance (between search terms), and to select a Thesaurus. Press F2 to save the options. [F10] = Quit. Press F10 to exit from the USFAC. Basic Commands while viewing document [F2] = Edit Search. Press F2 to edit previous search term(s). [F3] = New Search. [F4] = Table of Contents. [F5] = Side Search. [F6] = Print/Notepad. Highlight Print to print document to printer. Highlight File to download document to floppy disk. [F7] = Document Outline. Press F7 for an outline of the document. Use arrow keys to highlight a segment of the outline. Press to view the part of the document associated with the highlighted outline entry. [F8] = Next Document. Press F8 to go to the next document from the Results List. [F10] = Quit. Press F10 to exit from the USFAC. Printing/Downloading 1) While viewing the document on the screen, press F6 for printing and downloading options. 2) To Print: Press F6. Highlight Print and to print document to a printer. 3) To Download: a) Highlight File to download document to a floppy disk. (Use a formatted 5 1/4" floppy disk in the A drive, or a 3 1/2" disk in the B drive). b) Give document a file name. First, delete the file name. Use the left arrow key to place the cursor under the first letter of the file name. Press the delete key until the file name is completely deleted. c) Type in a: or b: (depending on which drive you use). d) Type in the file name. e) Press to download. Prepared by Matthew Marston, San Jose State Univ.