Guide to Searching Selected NDSU Libraries Online Databases

	Truncation/Wildcard		Boolean	Proximity		Dates / Ranges
EbscoHost	*	Enter the root of a search term and replace the ending with an *. EBSCOhost finds all forms of that word.	AND OR NOT If you use parentheses with the Boolean operators, the terms inside the parentheses are processed first.	Wn (w3)	within; word after w occurs within n words after the word that is before the w	Basic Search: use date range selection box
	?	Enter your search terms and replace each unknown character with a ?.		Nn (n3)	near; in same sentence, either order, number how close, i.e. 3
ProQuest	*	any number of characters	AND OR NOT Order: left to right Use ( ) to clarify order	W/n	within; word after w occurs within n words after the word that is before the w	Basic Search: use date range selection box
	?	one character (can use as ***)		NOT/W n	occurrences of word before and after NOT/W n at least n+1 words apart.
		variant spelling is an option in preferences		PRE/n	word before PRE/n precedes word following by up to n words
				W/DOC	word before and word after must both be in document
SPIRS	*	0 or any number of characters	AND OR NOT Use ( ) to clarify order	adj	includes both terms in exact order	WebSPIRS: use Limit Your Search button on search page.
	?	0 or one characters		with	both terms in same field
				near5	in same sentence, either order, number how close, i.e. 5
	?	A single letter within a word. Must be a letter present. (I.e., ne?t will get next but not net.)		Wn (W3)	within; word after w occurs within n words after the word that is before the w
	Truncation/Wildcard		Boolean	Proximity		Dates / Ranges
WebPALS	#	Use at the end of a word. Stands for any number of characters. May also be used at the end of a phrase in Exact Title searching to stand for any number of words.	AND OR NOT 1. A space between words works the same as an AND. 2. Searches are done from left to right. 3. When you are using both an AND operator and an OR operator during the same search, use the OR before the AND.			Search from the Advanced Search screen or use the Limit Search Screen after executing the search.
	?	Use inside of a word or phrase, one ? for each letter missing in a word or word missing in a phrase. Can be used at the end of a word or phrase in Author, Exact Title, and Exact Subject Heading searching.
FirstSearch	+	for plurals using –s or --es	AND OR NOT Order: left to right Processes nested ( ) phrases first, clarifies order. Use “ “ to define Boolean terms not used as operators.	w	with; combines adjacent terms in order	Limit options are available using the Limit icon on the top of the results list.
	*	any number of characters		w3	between words, in order, not more than 3 words in between (1-25)
	#	one character		n	near; combines adjacent terms in either order
	?	zero – 9 characters within a word		n4	between words, in any order, not more than 4 words between (1-25)
	?2	maximum of 2 characters within a word (up to 9)

	Truncation/Wildcard		Boolean	Proximity		Dates / Ranges
CSA	*	Replaces any number of characters after the root word.	AND OR NOT Order: ( ) near not and or Use ( ) to clarify order	within #	The word following the number (#) occurs within # words on either side of the word that is before within	Basic Search: use date range selection box Guided Search: use selection boxes for specific date ranges
	*	Replaces multiple characters within a word		No operator	Reads words as a phrase
	?	One character truncation or wildcard		near	Finds words within 10 words of each other (same as within 10)
				before	Relative order. Doesn’t imply adjacency.
				after	Relative order, doesn’t imply adjacency.
Elsevier ScienceDirect	!	Replaces any number of characters after the root word.	AND OR NOT			Basic or advanced search: use date range selection box
	*	Replaces one character within a word
	*	Used at the end of a word, will replace characters up to the number of *’s. (I.e., ** will replace up to two characters)

11 August 2004