Some useful information about a data project that has now
been completed.
The bibliographies from publication lists in the Maize
Genetics Cooperation News Letters (MNL), which started in
issue #13, 1939, have now been entered in the Maize Genome
Database (MaizeDB), http://www.agron.missouri.edu/
These bibliographies are rich in breadth across
genetics-related subjects for maize, and cover most of the
literature from 1935 forward (earlier retrospectives are in
progress).
To find these references, use the search form at:
http://www.agron.missouri.edu/cgi-bin/sybgw_mdb/mdb3/Reference/query
Hint 1: To find papers with a certain author in any order,
enter the last name (or Lastname, Initial, e.g., Rhoades, V)
in the Author field, and Retrieve.
Hint 2: To find papers with a certain word in the title,
enter the wildcard, %, followed by the partial or complete
word, e.g., %wor, in the Title field, and Retrieve. To
limit the search to words beginning after a space, include a
space, e.g., % wor. Searches with two wildcards also can be
done in each alternative order, e.g., %word1%word2 and %word2%word1.
Hint 1+2: To find papers with a certain author AND a certain
word in the title, combine Hints 1 and 2. Alternatively,
click on the Full Text button on the sidebar and conduct a
search by that route (incomplete, however, until index
crunching is carried out in the next few days).
Hint 3: To retrieve a list of all papers that were listed
in a particular MNL issue, click on the References button in
the sidebar and choose the All References link. Enter MNL
followed by the issue number, e.g., MNL13, in the "Object"
field, and click the Retrieve button. Beginning in 1996,
this key changes to DB96, etc.
Related point: the authors and titles of reports in MNL also
have been entered, back to #8, 1934. To retrieve a list of
all MNL notes in a certain issue, enter MNL in the "In"
(i.e., journal) field and the issue number in the Volume
field, then Retrieve.
Credit is due to Shirley Kowalewski for this comprehensive
effort. Shirley invites your questions, comments or
corrections, addressed to shirley at teosinte.agron.missouri.edu
Ed Coe
