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Advanced Search

Advanced Search is a powerful way to search with ProQuest. Enter your word or phrase, and use the fields to focus your search.

See hints on improving your searches for tips on creating more effective searches. See frequently asked questions on Advanced searches for answers to some commonly asked questions.

  1. Enter a word or phrase into the search field.
  2. If you're combining your search with additional search words:
  • Choose the operator (for example, AND or OR) you want to use. (For more information on using operators, see the Search Tips.)
  • Add your search word to the search field next to the operator list.
  • From the drop-down menu, select the field to search. (For more information on using these fields, see the Search Tips.)
  • Continue adding words as needed. If you want to add more terms, click Add a row.
  1. When you finish entering your terms, click Search.

You can focus your search by using the following options (some are only available after clicking More Options):

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Abstract

Search article abstracts for your terms.

For more information on using this field, see the Search Tips.

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Author

Enter an author's name to limit your search to articles written by a specific author or reviewer.

You can enter the author's name in any order. Searching the author field for John A. Smith produces the same results as searching for Smith, John A.

You can enter multiple author's names, separating them by AND to find articles by two authors.

For more information on using this field, see the Search Tips.

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Citation and Abstract (HNP)

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

  • Author
  • Abstract
  • Article Title
  • Source (publication title)

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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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Database

The Database field lets you limit your search to a specific database available from ProQuest. The default for this field is the database you are currently searching (or multiple databases, if you are searching more than one database).

  • Select a specific database from the drop-down menu to limit your search to a single database.
  • Click Select Multiple Databases to select multiple databases.

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Date Range (Custom)

To limit your search, select the radio button for one of the predefined date ranges:

  • On this date (the specific date you define)
  • Before this date (records published before the date you specify)
  • From / To (the range of dates you specify)

For information on the date formats ProQuest supports, see the date formats reference.

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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 article's origin.

For more information on using this field, see the Search Tips.

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Document ID

The Document ID is a unique number assigned to each document in ProQuest.

For more information on using this field, see the Search Tips.

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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.

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Document Type

By default, ProQuest searches all document types. To limit your search to a specific document type (for example, bibliography, book chapter, or journal article), select that document type from the drop-down menu.

For more information on using this field, see the Search Tips.

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Page / Pagination / Start Page

Use this field to search for a specific page of a publication.

For more information on using this field, see the Search Tips.

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Results per page

Use this menu to adjust the number of documents displayed on each page. You can select 10, 20 or 30 articles per page.

You can change the number of results displayed later on the Results page.

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Section

Use this field to search for articles that appear in a specific section of a publication.

For more information, see Search Tips

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Sort Results by

This field lets you select how you want your results sorted. The options that are available here depend on the database or databases you are currently searching. For example, you may be able to sort records by most relevant, or to display the oldest records first.

Select the desired search order from the drop-down menu.

You can change your sort order on the Results page by using the Sort results by drop-down menu.

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ProQuest Technical Support  

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