ProQuest Direct is an academic General Research Database which indexes and abstracts several thousand periodicals and includes full text articles for over a third of these periodicals. You may search the Complete Database or choose one of the Specialized Databases: 
 

BASIC SEARCH  is a broad search strategy that looks for a keyword/s or phrase.  Keyword searching can useful when you have a very narrow topic or you do not know the appropriate subject heading.   Many marginal articles may be included in your results.  You may use the Boolean operators   AND,  NOT, and  OR.   Enclose words in quotation marks to have the database search for them as a phrase. 

NATURAL LANGUAGE SEARCH allows you to build simple or complex searches by asking a question or by entering a short phrase.  The more times your words appear, the more relevant the article.  You may choose most relevant or most recent article results.  This is not a recommended method of efficient searching.  Capitalization affects yours results. Note: Peer Reviewed  is not available in Natural Language.
 

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LIMITERS allow you to refine your search.  They are useful for combining different research terms or for limiting your results to specific periodical types or dates.  All limiters may not be available for all types of searches.  The guided search offers the most opportunity to use limiters.
 

THE MOST COMMON LIMITERS: Publication Type:   All,  Newspapers, Periodicals  Limit to:   Full Text articles, Peer Reviewed  Date Range:  Current (1999- Present), Backfile  (1986-1998), Deep Backfile (Prior to 1986) Article Types:  All, Book Review, Speech,  Interview, Editorial, etc. Search Fields: You can search all  9  basic fields, OR   choose one field, such as Subject, Abstract,  Article Title,  Image Caption,  Publication title,  etc. Boolean operators:  AND, OR,  NOT

Guided Search Example:
 John Steinbeck (subject)  and  Grapes of Wrath (abstract)  and  book review  (article type)
(Choose)     Peer reviewed     Full text      Backfile     Periodicals
Limits your article results to scholarly book reviews in journals, from 1986-1998

Basic Search Examples:
(Showing examples of Boolean Operators)

dogs  AND  cats	articles must include both words
dogs  OR  cats	articles only need to have one search term
dogs  NOT  cats	articles must include dogs can't include cats
"Life after death"	articles must include this phrase

(Choose) Current,    Periodicals,  Citations and abstracts,    Full text,  Peer Review
Limits your results to current, scholarly journals, full text articles, available today.

Natural Language Example:

What is El Nino and La Nina?	Type a question
Pacific or Atlantic storms	Type a phrase

(Choose)     More Relevant,  All Publications,    Current,  (Full text is the default)
Limits your results to current, full text articles containing the articles with highest number of the words from the question/phrase to the lowest number.

Use the Wild Card * and Truncation ? symbols to search for words with unknown characters, variant spellings or different endings. 

Re*d	searches for the words read, reed, or reid
walk?	searches for the words walk, walked, walking, or walkway