Top Questions Regarding Advanced SearchFor a better understanding of Advanced Search, consider the following answers to the questions we most commonly hear about Advanced Search:
What's the Difference between Advanced Search and Basic Search?Advanced Search gives experts access to information about terms, symbols, and codes that they can use to create sophisticated searches. Most people will find the documents they're looking for using simple keywords in Basic Search. Expert searchers can use the information found in Advanced Search reference fields to narrow the scope of documents that match their searches. What is a Thesaurus?A Thesaurus is a controlled vocabulary of subject terms used to classify and organize information contained in a ProQuest database. You can use these subject terms to find the documents you are looking for. Just enter the term in the search field, set your preferences, and search. ProQuest finds all the documents indexed with that term. You can also combine terms you find in the Thesaurus with your current search using Advanced Search. When you find a term you want to add, click Add to Search next to the term, and it's automatically joined to your search with the operator you select. What are NAICS?NAICS (North American Industry Classification System) codes are 6 digit numbers used to group organizations into industries based on their primary activities. To find information using a NAICS Code, type sic or naic followed by the number you want contained in parentheses. For example, naic(211112) finds documents dealing with natural gas mining. You should use the most specific code possible. Remember, the codes don't cascade. If you enter 22 (Utilities), your search will return no records. If you want to broaden the search to include multiple codes, you need to use wildcard characters. For example, to find information on policies in all the subcategories of utilities, you would search for policies AND sic(22*). What are Stop Words?ProQuest ignores common words, such as the, all, and on when you enter a search that is not enclosed in quotation marks. These common words are called stop words. Is ProQuest Case Sensitive?No, ProQuest searches are not case sensitive. ProQuest ignores capitalization in your search terms. The search, US Department of Defense finds the same documents as the search us department of defense. What Fields can I Search?The fields you can search vary, depending on which database you have selected. You can quickly see the fields available to you by scanning the available options on the Advanced Search page. |
ProQuest Technical Support