Field Searching simplified on ProQuest Dialog

If you are a Dialog searcher, you know there are two ways to qualify search terms to specific fields, such as descriptor, title, company name, publication year, etc.:  1) apply Basic Index fields like title, and descriptors as suffixes, e.g. SELECT BENCHMARK?/TI,SU; and 2) apply Additional Index fields as prefixes, e.g. SELECT PY=2012:2013.

On ProQuest Dialog, the process is simpler because all indexes are handled in the same way:  by applying all field codes as prefixes and placing the search terms in parentheses. No need to discern if a field is a subject field or a non-subject field. No wondering if a field is phrase- or word-indexed.

In this example, a searcher wants to find articles about benchmarks in the sustainable or alternative energy arena. Here’s how to qualify the truncated search term benchmark limited to the title OR subject fields:  TI,SU(BENCHMARK*), ANDed together with (SUSTAIN* OR ALTERNATIVE) and narrowed to 2012 and 2013: PY(2012– 2013).

In Command Line Search mode, enter search terms line by line, and press Enter after each line. This creates search sets. Line one is a title OR subject search for benchmark truncated. Line 2 contains the search for sustainable or alternative energy. Line three has the date range for publication years 2012-2013, and line four combines the concepts.

ProQuest Dialog also provides a date range limit option for searchers who prefer to use a drop list to choose years, months or dates rather than create a separate search set.

In Advanced Search, enter the search string in the query boxes, or enter keywords and use the field drop- list to choose field codes like publication title, author or company.  Plurals and variant word endings are supplied, too, if desired. When searching multiple fields, enter the query with the field codes separated by commas.

Database ProSheets are available within ProQuest Dialog for searchers to find field codes and search examples. You can also download them from the Website.

FEBRUARY 2013

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