The guidelines assume that the manual's users are already familiar with searching bibliographic data bases and are experienced in DIALOG searching. The manual supplements this basic information with details about the contents of the NCJRS Data Base, the contents of the individual document records, and the methods by which documents are indexed and may be retrieved. A discussion of the content of the data base covers the types of items included and excluded to help searchers determine if the information they seek is likely to be in the NCJRS Data Base. A summary of NCJRS abstracting and indexing practices provides a preliminary guide to the use of the NCJRS Thesaurus and assists in full-text searching. Additional sections cover the statistical characteristics of the data base and instructions for searching the various fields in the document records. Appendixes present introductory material from the NCJRS Thesaursus, sample records in other DIALOG formats, examples of searches, a representative list of journals screened for the data base, and State abbreviations used in the data base. (Author summary modified)