PQDT Open Access: Search Tips

Click to jump to the search tip topic you wish to review:

• Hints
• Operators
• Truncation and Wildcards

Search Field Syntax Topics:

• Advisor
• Author
• Committee Members
• Department
• ISBN
• Keywords (Dissertation Topic)
• Publication Number
• School
• School Location
• Subject
• Title of Dissertation/Thesis

 
Hints:

• Use "quotation marks" to search for exact phrases
• Use special characters and operators (below) to focus your query

Operators:

• AND

Finds all the words
Example: food AND nutrition

• OR

Broader search. Finds dissertations and theses with either the first or the second word
Example: diet OR nutrition

• AND NOT

Finds dissertations and theses with the first word, that do not have the second word
Example: test AND NOT education

Truncation and Wildcards:

• * - Finds all forms of a word, including plurals. For example: searching for educ* will find education, educators, and education.
• ? - Replaces one character in a word. For example: searching for wom?n will find women and woman.

Search Field Syntax
Use search fields to focus your search.

Advisor
Use to find Dissertations and Theses completed under the supervision of a specific academic advisor.
Valid Forms:

• ADV
• ADVISOR
• ADVISER

Example:

• ADV(Smith)

Author
Use to find dissertations and theses written by a specific person.
Valid Forms:

• AUTHOR
• AU

Examples:

• AUTHOR(Smith)
• AU(Tom Munk)

Committee Members
Use to find dissertations and theses with a specific committee member.
Valid Form:

• CMT

Example:

• CMT(Mackey)

Department
Use to find dissertations and theses from a specific department at a school.
Valid Form:

• DEP

Example:

• DEP(Political Science)

ISBN
Use to find dissertations and theses with a specific International Standard Book Number (ISBN). Do not enter hyphens.
Valid Form:

• ISBN

Example:

• ISBN(9780549123538)

Keywords (dissertation topic)
Use to find dissertations and theses focused on a particular area, as described by the author.
Valid Form:

• IF

Example:

• IF(achievement)

Publication Number
Use to find a specific dissertation or thesis by its publication number. When searching, do not include any alphabetic prefix, only include the numbers.
Valid Form:

• DISPUB

Example:

• DISPUB(3272803)

School
Use to find dissertations and theses from a specific school.
Valid Forms:

• SC
• SCH

Example:

• SCH(Indiana University)

School Location
Use to find a school in a specific location, such as a country or state.
Valid Form:

• SCHLOC

Example:

• SCHLOC(Indiana)

Subject
Use to find dissertations and theses on a particular topic.
Valid Form:

• SUB

Example:

• SUB(mathematics education)

Title of dissertation/thesis
Use to find dissertations and theses with specific words in the title.
Valid Forms:

• TI
• TITLE

Examples:

• TI(Education)
• TI(career and education)