Proximity+Searching+A

What is it?
"Proximity Searching refers to the ability to specify how close within a record multiple terms should be to each other (Notess)."

Proximity search is a way of specifying the distance between words through the number of characters. It aids the process of phrase-searching by limiting results to focusing on the sought topic instead of any documents or web pages containing the keywords. The basis of this type of advanced search is that "the proximity of the words in a document implies a relationship between the words" (Wikipedia). This is beneficial in cases where documents contain lists where no significant connection between the words is evident, as these would otherwise appear higher up in the list of search results due to a higher frequency (Wikipedia). Thus, proximity searches search for keywords with a sort of relevance criteria, in which the context and structure of the keywords is taken into account when searching for results.

The proximity of the keywords within the results may be defined as a range or as a definite distance, depending on the methods through which it is applied. Additionally, the order of the keywords may be either fixed or interchangeable (i.e. permutation versus combination) (Wikipedia). Boolean syntax and query operators such as FOLLOWED BY, SENTENCE, NEAR, SENTENCE, PARAGRAPH or FAR are used to designate the placement of the keywords. Proximity search is a complex system that aims for accuracy of search results and its utilization varies depending on the choice of search engine.

Why use proximity searching?
Frequently, researches have two words or concepts which seem to be related and should, if researching properly, be found in close proximity to each other in documents/articles on the internet. Proximity searching limits the search to these specific documents/articles.

Proximity searching is different for each individual search engine and database. This Wiki Page would address on how to use this technique with the most frequently used databases and search engines such as EBSCO, United Streaming, Google, JSTOR, and WorldBook Online.

Google
Whilst Google does not have an exclusive function for proximity searching, it has a Wildcard Weature that could be used to specify the proximity or how close one typed keyword is from another. The Wildcard Feature utilizes asterisks (*) to represent a word(s) that separate one keyword from another (Blachmann).

Enter the keywords in the search bar as seen in the image below. Use quotation marks if you want to have the all the terms in one sentence, or forgo them if it does not matter where the keywords are found.



Notice that there are spaces in between the asterisks and the keywords.

Because of the wildcard operator, the search results that turned up were sites with pages that separates the word "grades" from "college admissions" with more or less three words.



Google's Wildcard Feature could be used when searching for the exact date of an event (substitute the month, day or year with an asterisk) or when searching for the exact phrasing of a half forgotten quote.

With these instructions, try it!

media type="custom" key="7014691"

JSTOR
In JSTOR, proximity searches can be conducted in either the search bar found on the homepage:



or through using the Advanced Search feature:



Proximity searches can be conducted by entering two or more keywords within quotation marks, and then adding the tilde (~) symbol followed by the range of words desired between the keywords

For example, on the homepage/using the basic search:



<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The search above should return results that have the words "grades" and "college" within 10 words of each other.

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In using the Advanced Search feature, search terms should be entered within the boxes provided. The proximity of the words can then be chosen using the drop down menu beside the second (and so on) search boxes.

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Using the same example from above, using the Advanced Search feature, your query should look as follows:



<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Notice that the same number of results are found for either search, thus either method may be used.

EBSCO
<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Near Operator (N) - N3 finds articles with titles containing the keywords you entered within 3 words of each other (in any order)

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">[You can use any number from 1-20]

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Example:

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Searching "fish N3 cat"...

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">...would find articles such as "cat not enticed by fish and chips just yet" which have three words in between "cat" and "fish" in either the <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Within Operator (W) - The term 'W11' will find articles with titles containing the keywords with the words you entered within 11 words of each other (in the order in which you entered them). Example...

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">...searching for the keywords "grades" and "colleges" separated by "W11" will allow you to acquire results like: <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">wherein the results include titles and excerpts of the two keywords within a proximity of 11 words. <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">[You can use any number from 1-20]

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">United Streaming
<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">On United Streaming, proximity searching works with Boolean phrases such as “NEAR” and “ONEAR”.

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The “NEAR” command searches for the two phrases in the search within a certain proximity of each other, in any order (The Intellogist). For example:





<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In these searches, the “NEAR” operator will look for results which have the phrase “grades” within the proximity of the phrase “college”, the order of the words "grades" or "college" would not matter in the results.

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The “ONEAR” command searches for the two phrases in the search within a certain proximity of each other, in a fixed order (The Intellogist). For example:





<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In this search the “ONEAR” operator will look for results which have the phrase “grades” followed by the phrase “college” within its proximity.

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Though unlike on Google, you cannot set a specific range of words it should search between. A "NEAR" term searches from proximity of 1 - 16 words (Boolean Black Belt).

**World Book Online**
Proximity searching is not offered as a search technique on World Book Online. Its website lists other types of methods, but proximity searching is not one of them (Help).

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Works Cited
Blachmann, Nancy. "Google/'s * Wildcard Operator." __Google Guide__. Sept. 23. 2010. <http://www.googleguide.com/wildcard_operator.html>.

Boolean Black Belt. "Extended Boolean: Proximity and Weighting." __Boolean Black Belt__. 23 Sept. 2010. <[]>.

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Europa. "Proximity Searching." __Proximity Searching__. n.d. 20 Sep 2010. <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><[]>.

JSTOR. "Detailed Searching." __JSTOR__. 21 Sept. 2010. <[]>.

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Pandia. "On proximity Search, the NEAR operator." __Proximity: The Near Operator__. 2010. 20 Sep 2010. <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><[]>.

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Search Engines Showdown. "Definition: Proximity." __Proximity Searching__. Search Engines Showdown, n.d. 20 Sep 2010. <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><[]>

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">State University of Fredonia Libraries, " A Quick Guide to JSTOR." __State University of Fredonia__. 20 Sep 2010.

The Intellogist. "Search Syntax/Allowed Operators/Boolean and Proximity Operators." __The Intellogist__. 23 Sept. 2010. <[]>.

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Wikipedia. "Proximity Search (text) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." __Wikipedia__. 22 February 2010. 20 Sep 2010. <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><[]>

World Book Online. “Help - World Book Advanced” __World Book Online.__ 23 September 2010. <[]>