Advanced Search Techniques: Proximity Searching
Few indexes have automatic phrase searching, but most will have proximity connectors that locate words together or allow you to specify a distance and order in which you want the terms to appear. Enter the symbol followed by a number for the distance between terms. Include spaces between terms and proximity connectors.
Examples:
Special w1 education = will only find the phrase “Special Education” where the words are next to each other and only in the order specified by your search
w1 finds terms within one word of each other
Nobel n4 Prize = Nobel Peace Prize, Nobel prize winners, Prize winners for the Nobel
n# finds terms within an article abstract with the words in any order
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