Search across all ProQuest platform databases with the Basic Search. You can search All source types or choose to limit your search by a source type such as Scholarly Journals, Videos & Audio, Dissertations & Theses, Books and others that are available through the More menu. Additionally, you can limit your search to items containing Full text from ProQuest and Peer Reviewed items to only find documents reviewed by subject matter experts. If you are only searching a single database directly, you will not see not see the source type selections.
Search Tips are available below the search box and at the bottom of the Basic Search page. Visit the Search Tips and Basic Search Help Documentation for detailed help on working with operators, fields, special characters, operator precedence, stop words, and other platform search tips. You can also visit the ProQuest Platform Search Tips section of this guide to review platform search defaults and tips.
You can also visit the ProQuest Platform LibGuide home page with all the videos and presentations.
If you want to change your database selection, click on the Change Databases link at the top of the platform or the databases link under the Basic Search box. This page lists out all the databases that your organization has access to through the ProQuest platform. You can choose multiple databases to cross-search too.
IMPORTANT: The search default is set to Anywhere. Anywhere searches the full bibliographic record (all indexed fields) including the full text. Your organization's ProQuest administrator may have chosen to change the default to search Anywhere except full text (NOFT) instead. Anywhere except full text (NOFT) searches the full bibliographic record, but does NOT include a search of the full text.
If you are the ProQuest Administrator for your account, visit the ProQuest Administrator Module page to learn more about the interface settings that are available for edit.
If you want to create a more structured query, searching across different fields, more details on how to do this can be found on the Advanced Search page within this guide.
Links to Basic, Advanced and Publications search pages, Browse, About and Change Databases will be displayed within the Main menu, in addition to company level links.
Use the Advanced Search to create a more structured query, searching across different fields. Enter your search term, then use the pull-down menus to the right to select the search fields you want to target, and between each row select Boolean operators to connect your search terms.
For a listing, description, and examples of how to format a search using field codes indexed in ProQuest databases, please visit the Searchable fields page of this guide.
Additionally, visit the Search Tips and Advanced Search Help Documentation for detailed help on working with operators, fields, special characters, operator precedence, stop words, and other platform search tips. You can also visit the ProQuest Platform Search Tips section of this guide to review platform search defaults and tips.
You can view videos and presentations.on the ProQuest Platform LibGuide home page.
IMPORTANT: The search default is set to Anywhere. Anywhere searches the full bibliographic record (all indexed fields) including the full text. Your organization's ProQuest administrator may have chosen to change the default to search Anywhere except full text (NOFT) instead. Anywhere except full text (NOFT) searches the full bibliographic record, but does NOT include a search of the full text.
If you are the ProQuest Administrator for your account, visit the ProQuest Administrator Module page to learn more about the interface settings that are available for edit.
You can also limit your search to items containing Full text from ProQuest and Peer Reviewed items to only find documents reviewed by subject matter experts. Use the Publication date menu to target a date range or a specific date.
From the Advanced Search page you may find a link to the thesaurus feature. A thesaurus is an alphabetical listing of all the subject terms in a single database, used to classify and organize information for that database. The thesaurus shows relationships between terms such as synonyms or related terms, and hierarchical arrangements such as broader terms, or narrower terms. Most ProQuest databases have an associated thesaurus.
Once you select the Thesaurus link, you will have an option to search for terms containing the word you have entered or beginning with the word you have entered. From there you can click on the subject terms to show the relationships with other terms. You can then select the subject terms that you would like to add to your search.
For additional details on how to use the thesaurus and search using the subject field, please see the Searchable fields section of this guide. You can also find additional Thesaurus help from our Thesaurus help file.
The Command Line Search is also accessible from the Advanced Search page. Click the Next: Command Line Search button at the bottom-right of this page to be taken to the Command Line Search Tips or select the Command Line Search option under the ProQuest Platform Search Tips menu.
When searching multiple databases together, the most common search limits to appear on the Advanced Search page include:
Source type - restrict your search to documents from one or more source types—such as magazines, newspapers, or trade journals. The list of source types will vary depending on the databases you are currently searching.
Document type - restrict your search to one or more document types—such as articles, audio/video clips, or poems. The list of document types will vary depending on the databases you are currently searching.
Language - restrict your search to documents published in one or more languages—such as Arabic, German, or Sanskrit. The list of languages will vary depending on the databases you are currently searching.
Additional or altogether different limits may appear depending on the databases that you have chosen to search.
From the Results page options, you can adjust the sort order, the number of items per page, excluding duplicate documents, and show additional search terms.
A thesaurus is an alphabetical listing of all the subject terms in a single database, used to classify and organize information for that database. The thesaurus shows relationships between terms such as synonyms or related terms, and hierarchical arrangements such as broader terms, or narrower terms. Most ProQuest databases have an associated thesaurus. By adding thesaurus terms to your search, you can broaden or narrow your search, or find related words to further explore your subject of interest.
To use the thesaurus, select the Thesaurus link from the Advanced or Command Line Search, then browse or search for subjects containing the word or beginning with the word. Mark the items that you would like to search and then select the appropriate Boolean operator to combine your items. Click the Add to search button and your terms will be placed into the search form. From there, run your search to include the subject terms. You can also combine terms you find in the thesaurus with your current Advanced or Command Line search.
In addition to the all encompassing subject field, there is also a separate subject field for company/organization, person, and location. These are also included in the searchable fields table to the right.
You can also find additional Thesaurus help from our Thesaurus help file.
ProQuest databases offer up to seven Look ups or browsable indexes, so you can easily find spelling or format variations of, for example, an author's name or a journal title. You can find the Look up links in the advanced search page and they are available for the following searchable fields (dependent on the selected ProQuest database(s)): author, publication, subject, company/organization, person, location, and NAICS. For a description of these fields, please see the searchable fields table to the right.
Note: Look ups are also available from the Command Line search (through the Look up terms link).
To use and locate a Look up or browsable index, select the field from the advanced search pull-down menu. If a Look up is available, under the search row you will see a link to the Look up. Some databases will display their Look ups and browsable indexes above the Source Type field in the advanced search page.
Select the Look up link and then you will see a browsable and alphabetical index for that field. There are some indexes that will not display an alphabetical list before searching for the term, rather you will have to enter a term first, and then the alphabetical list of matches will display.
Once you locate the index term that you would like to add to your search, mark the item, and then click the Add to search button. The index term will now appear in the advanced search form along with the appropriate pull-down menu selection.
Command Line Search is designed to help you build a precise search using operators to combine different fields that target your search terms. ProQuest will only search the fields you specify. Alternatively, you can simply search on a word or phrase.
Use the Search fields menu to insert field codes and then connect them with Boolean or proximity operators using the Operators menu. You can also manually add Boolean, search characters, and field codes by hand without relying on the menus. Visit the Command Line Search Help File here for tips on formatting your search as well as how to use the Thesaurus to insert subject terms into your search.
You can also limit your search to items containing Full text from ProQuest and Peer Reviewed items to only find documents reviewed by subject matter experts. Use the Publication date menu to target a date range or a specific date. Additionally, you can use the Result page options menu to adjust your results page view.
The Publication Search page lists all publications in all currently selected databases. If you select multiple databases, only the publications with full-text display. You can search for one or more publications. Your search will return matches on both current publication titles and their as-available historical titles.
Search for a Publication using the pull-down menu to choose to search In the title, Title begins with, In publication summary, and In subject. Boolean operators and the truncation (*) and wildcard (?) characters are supported. Visit the Search Tips Help to learn more about successful searching.
To narrow your publication list, use the filters in the left column to refresh your list to target specific types of publications based on focus or content. Expand and collapse filter categories such as Source type, Publication subject, Language, Publisher, and Database.
The Create alert and RSS feed options from the Publication Information page set up a table of contents notice that will let you know when ProQuest loads a new issue of the publication.
Select a publication title from the publication results page to view the Publication Information. The record includes the Publication title, Coverage, ISSN, Language, Subjects, Source Type, Publication title history and Publisher information, including Publisher name and address.
Use the Search within this publication to locate articles containing your search terms. Selecting the Advanced Search link will open the Advanced Search page, populating the search form with the selected publication title and the publication title field from the Advanced Search pull-down menu.
The latest issue content is shown directly on the publication page, with an enhanced issue picker.
You may select and view any issue quickly.
Some ProQuest database products offer browsing (in addition to searching) to find content. Browse categories are available with specific databases, but your organization's ProQuest subscription may have only some Browse categories.
Business: browse to quickly locate featured reports and other non-periodical content in ABI/INFORM Collection and ProQuest Entrepreneurship. This coverage includes industry and market research reports, commodity reports, company reports, country reports, dissertations, topic paths, start-up tools and more featured content.
Careers: browse career resources in Career & Technical Education Database.
Dissertations & Theses: browse ProQuest Dissertations & Theses by subject or location.
Health & Medicine: browse video training programs and recommended readings in Nursing & Allied Health Database.
History: browse the Annual Register volumes by year from 1758 - 2016. Browse Civil War pamphlets and Slavery & Anti-Slavery pamphlets in ProQuest Civil War Era.
