Merge similar terms

If there are multiple terms that mean the same thing or are different forms of the same word or concept in the Thesaurus, you need to decide which term should be the preferred term, delete the other terms, and add them as synonyms to the preferred term. You will also need to update the zine catalogue records that have the non-preferred term.

Sometimes it will be obvious which term to keep and which to merge, but sometimes it will be less clear and you will want to look at how the terms have been used in the Thesaurus.

1. Find the terms in the Thesaurus. Open each term in a new tab to see the zines it has been added to.

2. Usually if a lot of people have used one term and not another, you should keep the more well used term, even if you don’t 100% agree with it.

3. You can try looking up the term in some of the thesaurus resources to decide which preferred term to use.

4. Ask other Thesaurus editors what they think.

Once you have decided which term to keep, make note of the other terms so you can add them as synonyms.  Then you will need to change the other terms in the zine records to the preferred term.  Follow the instructions for Replace the Term with Another Term.

To add the other terms as synonyms, edit the Thesaurus term record and add the terms to the Synonyms field.