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HELP
ProQuest Digital Dissertations places powerful searching capabilities at
your fingertips. You might look at our Examples for help with the most common types of searching or
use the table of contents below to find more detailed help on a specific
topic.
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Introduction 
The search facility of ProQuest Digital Dissertations provides
powerful capabilities including field-specific searching and the use of
Boolean and proximity operators to narrow, broaden, and refine your
searches.
Search Steps
Enter your search terms into the search entry window and select the
"Submit" button. Your search and the number of results will be
presented in the result sets window. You can then view that result set
or enter a new search.
You may specify complex searches and combine result sets using the
search features described below. If your list of result sets becomes too
long, and you don't need to refer back to or re-use existing result sets,
simply select "Clear All".
Results Display
By default, the system will display result sets after each
search. You can then select a set for viewing. If you would prefer to
enter your search terms and go directly to the
listing of search results, select "Lists" before
submitting your search.
Combining and Re-using Searches
You can reuse any search that is still displayed in the result set
window. Simply use the set number as part of your new search.
examples:
#2 and ti (computer)
#3 not #4
Printing
Use the "Print" feature of your Web browser to print the list of result
sets for future reference or to print the records.
Field Searching
Each record is broken into fields. When you search for a term without
specifying a field, the retrieval software automatically searches the
default field (the keyword or basic index field) which contains all words
in the title and abstract fields of a record. A field search specifies
which field should be searched for occurrences of the keyword or phrase.
To search by field, use its abbreviation, followed by the word or phrase
you want to search in parentheses.
See the Field Specific Search Tips for instructions
on searching each field.
examples:
title (biology) searches for all dissertations that have
the word 'biology' in the title field.
au (smith, robert) searches for all dissertations written by Robert
Smith.
Boolean Operators
Boolean or logical operators may be used to narrow or broaden your
search. The following explanations and diagrams show how AND, OR, and AND
NOT affect a search.
AND, and
Use 'AND' between search terms to specify retrieval of documents that
have both terms.
examples:
title (biology and plants)
title (biology) and school (michigan state university)
OR, or
Use 'OR' between search terms to specify retrieval of documents that have
either term.
examples:
title (apples or oranges)
title (biology) or subject (biology)
NOT, AND NOT, not, and not
Use 'NOT' between search terms to specify retrieval of documents that
have the first term but not the second term.
examples:
title (chemistry not organic)
title (biology) and not school (michigan state university)
Proximity
Use the following proximity operators to specify the order and/or
closeness of words. Note that n must be specified as the number of
characters, not words.
W/n - First term is within n characters of the second.
PRE/n - First term is n characters to the left of the second.
examples:
intelligent W/10 buildings will find "intelligent buildings" and
"buildings that are intelligent"
military PRE/1 weapons will only find "military weapons"
Phrases
Separate words by spaces to specify retrieval of documents that have
those exact phrases.
examples:
title (cross country skiing) will return documents with the exact
phrase "cross country skiing"
keyword (nordic or cross country) and keyword (skiing) will return
"nordic skiing" and "cross country skiing"
Nesting
Use parentheses to nest terms for more complex searches. Operations in
the inner-most sets of parentheses are carried out first.
examples:
keyword ((cross country or nordic) and skiing)
Truncation (?)
Use a question mark (?) at the end of a word as a wildcard to find
variations and plurals. Truncation is also useful if you're not sure of the
spelling of a word or name.
Examples:
title (biolog?) will return both "biology" and "biological"
keyword (librar?) will return "library" and "libraries" and
"librarian" and "librarians and "librarianship"
Noise Words
Noise words are common words generally not useful as search terms.
Because these words are not actively searched, you receive the
benefit of improved response time for search phrases that use them.
The system automatically ignores noise words, but holds space for
them while the remainder of the search proceeds normally. For example,
when the term "over the counter trading" is searched, the system
ignores the noise word "the."
A list of noise words is provided below:
ALSO
AN
AND
ARE
AS
BE
BEEN
BETWEEN
BOTH
BUT
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BY
DID
FROM
HAS
HAVE
INTO
NOT
OF
OR
SHOULD
|
SOME
SUCH
THAN
THAT
THE
THEIR
THEM
THEMSELVES
THESE
THEY
|
THIS
THOSE
THROUGH
TO
USING
WERE
WHEN
WHICH
WITH
WOULD
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Problems with Speed
Due to the large size of the dissertation database, some searches may
take several minutes before returning results. Broad queries (e.g.
su (biology)) will take longer than specific queries. To improve
performance, try making your searches as specific as possible.
Examples
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| Field Name | Search Tag |
Example |
| Abstract | ab, abs, abstract | ab(Iowa and
caucus?), ab(ozone) |
| Adviser | ad, adviser, advisor | ad(Kani),
adviser(Smith, Ann?) |
| Author | au, at, author | au(Hart, William) |
| Degree Date (year) | ddt, da, date, yr,
year | DDT(1996), da(<1990), yr(1980:1990) |
| Degree Awarded | dg, ddn, degree | DG(PHD),
degree(MILS) |
| Dissertation Database ID | disdb | disdb(DAI),
DISDB(MAI) |
| Dissertation
Volume/Issue | disvol | disvol(DAI-B 56-02), disvol(B) |
| ISBN | isbn | ISBN(91-554-3527-0) |
| Keyword (Basic Index) | bi,
keyword | bi(mooring?), keyword(Cuba or Haiti) |
| Language of Dissertation | la,
language | la(French) |
| Publication/Order Number | pn, no,
publication | pn(AAT9634098) |
| School Name/Code | sc, sch,
school | sc(Wayne State), SC(0254) |
| Subject Name/Code | su, sub,
subject | su(Cinema), su(0900) |
| Title | ti, title | TI(Fuzzy logic), ti(NASA
Astrophys?) |
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Field Specific Search Tips |
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Abstract
field tags: ab, abs, abstract
Search the abstract field for keywords or phrases. Since abstracts can
be several hundred words in length, you may want to employ Boolean,
proximity, and phrase searching as discussed in Search Basics.
UMI requests an English translation of the abstract and title from the author if the dissertation is not written in English. Those translated abstracts and titles are what appear in the database if provided by the author. Otherwise, the title and abstract appear in the original language.
examples:
ab(organic chemistry)
ab (organic and chemistry)
Adviser
field tags: ad, adviser, advisor
Search for dissertations completed under the supervision of a specific
academic adviser. If you're unsure of the spelling of a name, try using
truncation. Adviser names are searchable in the following ways:
adviser (first name) or adviser(last name)
adviser (last name, first name)
examples: adviser(Smith)
adviser(Smith, Robert)
Author
field tags: au, at, author, authors
Search for dissertations completed by a specific author. If you're
unsure of the spelling, try using truncation. Author names are
searchable in the following ways:
author (first name) or author (last name)
author (last name, first name)
examples:
author (Smit?)
author (Smith, Robert)
Degree Date
field tags: da, date, year, yr, ddt
Search by the year in which the degree was awarded by the school. You
can search degree date by a range of years: Date (1980:1996) or in
"greater than" or "less than" modes: Date (<1995). Note that your
subscription may limit the range of dates available to you.
examples:
date (1980:1996) years between 1980 and 1996
date (>1995) years since 1995
date (<1991) years before 1991
Degree Awarded
field tags: dg, ddn, degree
Search by the acronyms or abbreviations for specific types of degrees
awarded such as LLM or JSD. Note that degree names and acronyms
frequently vary from school to school.
example:
degree (JSD)
degree (MILS)
Dissertation Database ID
field tags: disdb
You can limit your search to the DAI (Dissertation Abstracts
International) database or the MAI (Master's Abstracts International)
database. The default setting specifies a search across both.
examples:
disdb (dai)
disdb (mai)
Dissertation Volume / Issue
field tags: disvol
Use this field to narrow your search to social sciences and humanities
(volume A) or sciences and engineering (volume B). You can also use this
field to search for specific issue numbers. Note that limiting by volume
or issue may not make sense if your subscription only covers a portion
of the database.
examples:
disvol (dai-a) limit to A volumes
disvol (dai-b 52) limit to volume 52B
disvol (dai-b 52/04) limit to volume 52B; issue 04
ISBN
field tags: isbn
Search for a specific dissertation by ISBN (International Standard Book
Numbering). You can include or omit the dashes. Note that ISBN
searching is only supported for Canadian and some European titles.
examples:
isbn (91-554-3527-0)
isbn (9155435270)
Keyword
field tags: bi, keyword
Search both the title and abstract fields for keywords or phrases. This
is the default search mode, so terms entered without field tag
specification are searched against the keyword field. Since abstracts
can be several hundred words in length, you may want to employ Boolean,
proximity, and phrase searching as discussed in Search Basics.
examples:
keyword (organic chemistry)
bi (organic and chemistry)
Language of Dissertation
field tags: la, language
Search for dissertations written in languages other than English. Note
that searching for English titles will not produce results. The
abstract and title are often translated into English, but the language
field describes the language of the full text dissertation.
The language field was introduced in 1988. To search for titles published prior to 1988, use the language desired with the word "text" in the title field (i.e. ti(Russian text) ). That phrase is added to all titles if the dissertation is written in any language other than English.
examples:
la (French)
language (French or Italian)
ti (Hebrew text)
Publication / Order Number
field tags: pn, no, order, publication
Search for a specific dissertation by publication or order number. You
can include or omit the dashes.
examples:
pn (AAT9598765)
pn (AATMM-98765)
School Name / Code
search tags: sc, sch, school
Search for dissertations granted by a specific school. If you're unsure
of the exact name of the school, you can use the
School Index tab
in the advanced search interface. Also, since the country name code
is added to every school outside the U.S., you can use this field to search
for a list of all schools within a particular country. Finally, you may search
using the four-digit code associated with each school.
examples:
sc (michigan)
sc (university of michigan)
sc (sweden)
sc (0300)
Subject Name / Code
search tags: su, sub, subject, subjects
Search by the subject names that are assigned to each dissertation. To
identify appropriate subject names, you can use the
Subject Index tab
in the advanced search interface.
You can also search by the four number subject code associated with each
subject name.
In most cases, subject searching should be used in combination with keyword, degree date, or other fields. Otherwise, the large size of the dissertation database may mean that your search takes several minutes to perform, and that your results set is unwieldy.
examples:
su (education)
subject (physical chemistry)
sub (0321)
Title
search tags: ti, title
Search the title field for keywords or phrases. Since titles can be fairly
long, you may want to choose only the most significant keywords and employ
Boolean, proximity, and phrase searching.
Title searching is particularly effective in narrowing a search to only
the most relevant dissertations on a topic. Authors and UMI editors occasionally add
keywords in parentheses to the end of titles if the author's title does
not describe the subject accurately or completely.
For titles written in languages other than English, UMI publishes a
translated title if provided by the author. If the text of the dissertation is not written in English, the actual language will be identified in parentheses at the end of the title (i.e. (Dutch Text)). This language identity phrase can also be used to search for foreign language titles published prior to the introduction of the language field (1988).
examples:
title (nordic skiing)
ti (biology and chemistry)
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