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ProQuest Technical Support
Search Help:

Search Tips

  • Use "quotation marks" to search for exact phrases.
  • 2 word queries (such as circus elephant) are searched as an exact phrase by default.
  • 3 word queries (such as new york orchestra) are searched as words that need to appear in proximity to each other by default.
  • Use special characters and operators (below) to focus your query.

Learn About

Truncation and Wildcard Characters

Asterisk The symbol * is used as a right-handed truncation character only; it will find all forms of a word.
For example, searching for econom* will find "economy", "economics", economical", etc.
Question mark The symbol ? is used to replace any single character, either inside the word or the right end of the word.
? cannot be used to begin a word.
For example, searching for "wom?n" will find "woman" and "women." Searching for "t?re" will find "tire", "tyre", "tore", etc.

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Operators

Boolean, proximity and adjacency operators are used to broaden and narrow your search.

AND Find all the words. When searching for keywords in "Citation and Document Text," AND finds documents in which the words occur in the same paragraph (within approx. 1000 characters) or the words appear in any citation field. Use W/DOC in place of AND when searching for keywords within "Citation and Document Text" or "Document Text" to retrieve more comprehensive results.
Example: internet AND education
AND NOT Find documents which have the first word, but not the second word.
Example: Internet AND NOT html
OR Find any of the words.
Example: Internet OR intranet
W/# Find documents where these words are within some number of words apart (either before or after). Use when searching for keywords within "Citation and Document Text" or "Document Text."
Example: computer W/3 careers
W/PARA Finds documents where these words are within the same paragraph (within approx. 1000 characters). Use when searching for keywords within "Document Text."
Example: internet W/PARA education
W/DOC Find documents where all the words appear within the document text. Use W/DOC in place of AND when searching for keywords within "Citation and Document Text" or "Document Text" to retrieve more comprehensive results.
Example: Internet W/DOC education
NOT W/# Find documents where these words appear but are not within some number of words apart (either before or after). Use when searching for keywords within "Citation and Document Text" or "Document Text."
Example: computer NOT W/2 careers
PRE/# Find documents where the first word appears some number of words before the second word. Use when searching for keywords within "Citation and Document Text" or "Document Text."
Example: world pre/3 web

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Search Field Syntax

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Abstract

Search article abstracts for your terms.

Valid Forms:
    ABS
    AB
    ABSTRACT

Examples:
    ABS(customer delight)
    ABS(ozone)

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Author

Use to find articles written by an author or reviewer.

Valid Forms:
    AUTHOR
    AU

Examples:
    AUTHOR(Gertrude Enders Huntington)
    AU(Michael Kinsley)

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Citation and Abstract

When you select Citations and abstracts from the drop-down menu, ProQuest searches the following fields:

  • Author
  • Personal Name
  • Abstract
  • Product Name
  • Article Title
  • Subject Terms
  • Company Name
  • Source (publication title)
  • Geographical Name

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Citation and Document Text

When you select Citation and document text, ProQuest searches within the complete text of the article, the citation fields, and the abstract.

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Column / Document Column Head

The title of a column in a periodical or newspaper, such as "The Week in Review." This search field finds all articles where the search words are in the column head.

Valid Form:
    COL

Examples:
    COL(futures)
    COL("The Week In Review")

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Company Name / Organization

Search for a company or other organization featured prominently in an article, including the following:
    Associations
    Companies
    Cooperatives
    Divisions of companies
    Governmental organizations
    Political parties
    Other organizations, such as professional sports teams, churches, native
    american tribes, and music groups

Valid Forms:
    CO
    Company
    ORG

Examples:
    CO(Ford)
    CO(Vodaphone Group)
    CO(Berlin Philharmonic)
    CO(African National Congress)
    Company(ProQuest)

Note: When you search using Company/Org, ProQuest finds articles containing your search terms in the index field. For example, a search for CO(United Nations), will find articles indexed on United Nations and United Nations Federal Credit Union. To find articles indexed with the exact term United Nations, use the literal search field: LCO({United Nations}). The literal search field uses curly braces inside of parentheses.

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Date (Alpha)

The publication date in alphanumeric format (month day year). For example December 12, 1999 appears as Dec 12 1999.

Do not use a comma.

Valid Form:
   PDA
   DA
   DATE

Example:
   DA(Jul 4 2001)

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Date (Numeric)

The publication date in numeric format (mm/dd/yyyy). For example December 12, 1999 appears as 12/12/1999.

You can use the < and > signs to indicate dates before and after a date, or between specific dates. For example, PDN(>1/1/2002) AND PDN(<1/5/2002) will find results from publications with numeric dates between January 1 2002 and January 5 2002.

Valid Form:
   PDN
   DDT
   ND
   PD
   PDN
   XP

Example:
   PDN(12/12/1999)

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Dateline

Lets you search article Datelines. The dateline occurs frequently in newspapers, just after the article title, giving the date and place of the articles origin.

Use Keywords to search this field. You can use Boolean, proximity and truncation operators.

Valid Form:
   DLN
   XDL

Example:
   DLN(dubai)
   DLN(lebanon pre/1 ohio)

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Document ID

Searches the unique database ID for articles and documents in ProQuest.

Valid Forms:
   ID

Examples:
   ID(356894)

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Document Text

Searches only the full text of articles for your search terms. Article abstracts are not included in this search. AND, OR, and other search operators are treated as such unless enclosed in quotes.

Valid Forms:
    TEXT
    TX

Examples:
    TEXT(Kofi Annan)
    TEXT("North Sea oil")

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Document Title

The title of a document, such as "Peering into the Future of Careers." This search field locates the occurrence of search words in the title of the document.

Valid Forms:
    TITLE
    TI

Examples:
    TITLE(Future)
    TI(future AND career)
    TI("Peering into the Future of Careers")

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Document Type

Use this search field to look for search words or phrases in articles of a certain type.

Valid Forms:
    AT
    TY
    DT

Examples:
    DTYPE(commentary)
    TY(editorial cartoon)
    AT(review)
    DT(arts/exhibits review)
    DTYPE(television review-no opinion)

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DUNS

The Dunn and Bradstreet trading partner identification number. These numbers provide a universal system for computer identification of companies.

Valid Forms:
   DUNS
   DUN
   DU
   DN

Examples:
   DUNS(00 695 7856)
   DUN(03 575 3920)

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Footnote

Search article footnotes for your terms.

Valid Forms:
    FOOT
    FTN

Examples:
    FOOT(326 U.S. 465)

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Geographical name / Location

Use this search field to look for articles in which a geographical area or location figures prominently in the text.

Valid Forms:
    GEO
    GN
    LO
    LOC
    LOCATION
    GC

Examples:
    GEO(Midwest)
    GN(UK)
    GEO(New South Wales)
    GN(Black Forest)

Note: When you search using Location, ProQuest finds articles containing your search terms in the index field. For example, a search for GEO(Paris), will find articles indexed on Paris and Paris City Utah. To find articles indexed with the exact term Paris, use the literal search field: LGEO({Paris}). The literal search field uses curly braces inside of parentheses.

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Headnote

This search field looks for search words that occur in the headnotes of an article. Headnotes are short introductions, explanations, or comments at the beginning of an article. They are different from abstracts in that they do not attempt to summarize the content of the article.

Valid Forms:
    HEAD
     HDN

Examples:
    HEAD(escalator accidents)
    HDN(digital tv)
    HEAD(Global Economy)

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Image Caption

This search field looks for occurrences of search words in the caption text accompanying article illustrations, graphs, and photographs.

Valid Forms:
    CAP
    CP

Examples:
    CAP(Chart)

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Index

Using this field locates all occurrences of search words in any searchable index field. It does not find occurrences in the text of the articles.

Valid Forms:
    INDEX
    IND
    IX

Examples:
    INDEX(starcore)

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ISSN

This search field looks for the eight-digit International Standard Serials Number (ISSN), where available. Hyphens are optional.

Valid Forms:
    ISSN
    SN
    ISN

Examples:
    ISSN(0011-4664)
    SN(00916358)

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NAICS/SIC Codes (Industry Code)

The NAICS/SIC code defines the economic activity of a business as defined by the US Census Bureau.

Valid Forms:
    SIC
    NAIC
    NAICS

Examples:
    SIC(4911)
    SIC(514210)

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Page / Pagination / Start Page

Use to search for specific pages of a publication. Useful for finding front page articles.

Valid Forms:
    STARTPAGE
    PAG
    PAGE

Examples:
    PAG(A.1) AND PUB(wall street journal) AND PDN(1/10/2003)

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Person

Use to find articles about a person. When the Personal Name field is displayed in an article citation, the life spans of historical figures follow their names.

You can enter the name in any format. Searching for NA(John A Smith) will return the same results as NA(Smith, John A).

Valid Forms:
    NAME
    NA
    PNM
    NM
    PER

Examples:
    NAME(Toni Morrison)
    NA(Vladimir Putin)
    NM(Cesar Chavez)

Note: When you search using Person, ProQuest finds articles containing your search terms in the index field. For example, a search for PER(Cher), will find articles indexed on Cher and Cher Pere Noel. To find articles indexed with the exact term Cher, use the literal search field: LPER({Cher}). The literal search field uses curly braces inside of parentheses.

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Product Name

Use to find articles about a specific product.

Valid Forms:
    PROD
    PR
    PRO
    TN

Examples:
    PROD(TiVo)
    PR(harley-davidson)

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Publication Title / Journal Name

Used to search by a specific publication or publications.

Valid Forms:
    SOURCE
    SO
    JR
    JN
    JO
    SR
    PTI
    PUB

Examples:
    SO(Forbes)
    SO(New York Times or Washington Post)
    JO(computing) — retrieves all periodicals with "computing" in their titles

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Section

Search for articles that appear in a specific section of a publication. Use the SOURCE search field to specify a publication. You must specify the section name exactly as it appears in the publication.

Valid Forms:
    SECTION
    SE
    SEC

Examples:
    SOURCE(New York Times) AND SECTION(editorial) AND AU(Gore Vidal)
    SEC(sports) AND NA(Florence Griffith Joyner)

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Source Type

Use to include or exclude the following source types from your search: dissertations, newspapers, periodicals and wire feeds.

Valid Forms:
    STYPE

Examples:
    NA(Winston Churchill) AND STYPE(periodical)
    GEO(Japan) AND STYPE(wire feed)

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Subject Terms

Use the Subject search field to look for articles about a specific subject. When searching Hoover's, this contains information on company type.

Valid Forms:
    SUB
    TERMS
    SB
    SU

Examples:
    SUB(Music)
    SU(venture capital companies)
    SU(Health Care)
    SU(nonprofit)

Note: When you search using Subject, ProQuest finds articles containing your search terms in the index field. For example, a search for SUB(Models), will find articles indexed on Models and Models (Architecture). To find articles indexed with the exact term Models, use the literal search field: LSU({models}). The literal search field uses curly braces inside of parentheses.

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Ticker Symbol

Use to find articles with indexed ticker symbols. The ticker symbol is used by the major U.S. stock market exchanges to identify companies.

Valid Forms:
    TICKER
    TK
    TIK
    TS

Examples:
    TICKER(AAPL) — Apple Computer, Inc.
    TK(INTC) — Intel Corporation

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Volume

Used to search Volume. Use keyword(s) to search this field.

Valid Forms:
    VOLUME
    VO
    VOL

Examples:
   VO(100)

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Word Count

The number of words in the article text. Use this search field to locate articles under (<) or over (>) a certain length.

Valid Forms:
    WORDS
    WRD
    WD
    WC

Examples:
    WORDS(<1000) ­ finds articles containing 1000 words or less
    WRD(>500) ­ finds articles containing 500 words or more
    WC(>750 AND <1000) finds articles between 750 and 1000 words

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Year

Use to search Publication Year index.

Valid Forms:
    YR
    PY

Examples:
    YR(1986)
    YR(1986-1987)
    YR(>1998)
    YR(<1998)

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Stop Words

ProQuest ignores the following frequently-used words. To use them as part of a search phrase, enclose them with quotation marks: e.g. "the sound and the fury".

about can just out those
after could like said through
also do make should to
an each many so use
and for more some was
any from most such we
are had much than were
as has no that what
at have not the when
be how now their which
because if of them while
been into only there who
between is or these will
both it other they with
but its our this would
by

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Example Searches

The examples below illustrate the kinds of searches you can build in Basic Search or Advanced Search using operators and fields.

Content varies between ProQuest databases; therefore, the number of documents found using the examples below would vary.

weather

    Finds documents that contain the word weather.

educat*

    Finds documents containing the words education, educator, educate, and educating. The "*" is the truncation symbol to find multiple forms of a word.

weather AND pacific ocean

    Finds documents that contain the word weather and the phrase pacific ocean.

"Blair Witch Project"

    Finds documents that contain the phrase Blair Witch Project.
    Always enclose phrases longer than two words in quotation marks.

sub(mars) AND water AND life

    Finds documents about Mars that mention water and life. The Subject Terms search field will help you find documents that are about a particular subject.
    Keywords (such as water and life as in the example) focus your search more precisely.

cap(panda) AND zoo

    Finds documents that have image captions containing the word panda. Use the Caption search field to find documents containing specific kinds of photos, charts, graphs, maps, or other graphics.

author(Dave Barry)

    Finds documents written by Dave Barry, a popular commentary writer.

at(book review) AND name(Stephen King)

    Finds book reviews of works by Stephen King. Use the document Type search field to find different kinds of documents, including biographies, interviews, and recipes.
    Note that dtype is also a valid syntax form for document Type.

source(Fortune) AND company(Ford) AND PDN(>03/01/2001 AND <10/30/2001)

    Finds documents from the magazine Fortune about the company Ford published between March 1, 2001 and October 30 2001. Use the Source search field to restrict your search to a specific newspaper or journal. Use the Company field to restrict to a specific company.

at(movie review-favorable) AND "Blair Witch Project"

    Finds favorable movie reviews of the movie Blair Witch Project.

stype(newspaper) AND at(obituary) AND John F. Kennedy Jr.

    Finds newspaper obituaries about John F. Kennedy Jr.

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ProQuest Technical Support

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