Simple searches in the ProQuest platform provide plenty of great results, but sometimes you want more control over how your search is executed. Use these tools to help you format a precise and robust search strategy.
Search tips
- Multiple word queries (e.g., childhood obesity) are treated as though there is an AND between each word (e.g., childhood AND obesity).
- Use quotation marks (“ ”) to search for exact phrases.
- Results where a multiple word query (e.g., childhood obesity) appears together as a phrase are ranked as more relevant than those where the words are separated.
Special characters
- The asterisk (*) is the truncation character, used to replace one or more characters, at the right end (right-hand truncation) of a word, or in the middle of a word.
- Example: Searching for econom* will find economy, economics, economical, etc. Searching for wo*n will find wooden, woman, worn, etc.
- Use a hyphen (-) to indicate a range when searching numerical fields, such as Publication date.
- Example: YR(2020-2024)
Operators
Boolean, proximity, and adjacency operators are used to broaden and narrow your search.
| AND |
Finds all the words. Example: food AND nutrition |
| NOT |
Finds articles which have the first word, but not the second word. Example: nursing NOT shortage |
| OR |
Finds any of the words. Example: internet OR intranet |
| NEAR/# |
Finds documents where these words are within some number of words of each other (either before or after). Example: nursing NEAR/3 education |
| PRE/# |
Finds documents where these words are within some number of words of each other in the specified order. Example: natural PRE/4 disaster |
Spelling variants and grammatical variants
Spelling variants enable the search engine to recognize and match spelling differences between American and British versions of a word. In addition, it recognizes and matches contemporary English and older English versions of a word, when appropriate.
- Example: Searching for labor will also find labour. Searching for theatre will also find theater.
Grammatical variants enable the search engine to recognize and match different grammatical forms of a word such as with plurals and adjectives.
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Example:
- Searching for mouse will also find mice.
- Searching for elephants will also find elephant.
- Searching for tall will also find taller and tallest.
You can override both the spelling variants and grammatical variants by placing your search terms in quotation marks.
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Example:
- Searching for “labor” will ONLY find labor.
- Searching for “mouse” will ONLY find mouse
Download these tips