Health & Medicine Database Search Tips: ProQuest

• Use the advanced search page
• Use quotation marks when searching phrases
  • e.g., "urinary tract infection"
• Use Boolean operators wisely
  • e.g., "urinary tract infection" OR uti
• Use an asterisk (*) to search for all variations of a word
  • e.g., diagnos*=diagnose, diagnosis, diagnosing, diagnostic
  • Be careful...if you use the asterisk in the wrong place, you may get results that have nothing to do with your topic
    • e.g., dia*=diamond, dial, dialysis, diabetes, etc.
    • e.g., diag*=diagonal, diagram, diagraph, etc.
• Limit to a specific date range; default sort order is by relevance--this can be changed to sort by date, most recent at the top
• Limit language to English

The following list links out to ProQuest guides that give you information about each database, as well as search tips, searchable fields, how to interpret and manage results, how to view documents, sample searches (including truncation tips), how to create your own personal account within ProQuest so you can save documents, save searches, and set up alerts, webinars, video tutorials, and other support materials.