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Advanced Search Strategies

Advanced searching techniques to focus and control database search results while retrieving more relevant results.

PROXIMITY OPERATORS

Proximity operators provide a way to narrow search results by: 1) adding context to your search, and 2) reducing the number of random results. This increases the relevance of your search results. Proximity operators find search terms NEAR or WITHIN a specific distance of each other (next, near or within X number of words). This is useful when Boolean operators are not narrowing the search enough.

  • NEAR operator finds search terms within a specified range in either order
    • Spotify n5 copyright will find documents with search words: Spotify and Copyright within 5 words of each other in either order

  • WITHIN operator finds search terms within a specified range in the specific order enter
    • Spotify w5 copyright will find documents with search words: Spotify and Copyright within 5 words of each other in the specific order of Spotify first followed by copyright

 

 

Proximity searches can be further narrowed by limiting search to a specific SEARCH FIELD, such as the Abstract.