Academic Search Elite: basic search techniques

Proximity searching is one of the best ways to use a database. As it allows for a both flexibility and precision in constructing searches. Essentially, you are telling the computer that a certain search term must be found within so many words of another term. The closer the terms are together, the more likely they are in the same sentence or paragraph.

The syntax for a proximity search is search term wsomenumber search term, e.g. clon* w15 moral*. This will find variations of the word "clone" within 15 words of variations of the word "moral." The * is used for truncation in Academic Search Elite.

If you are familiar with proximity searching in Academic Universe, note that there is no / between the "w" and "15" as there would be in Academic Universe. The search is also set to "All Fields." This search returns 250+ hits.
This graphic depicts a proximity search as follows, "clon* w15 moral* with the search field delimiter set to all fields
The search below is the same as the one above, except that the field delimiter is set to search only the Abstract. This narrows the search considerably, giving only 55+ hits--but it is likely that these articles are very much on-topic as abstracts are used to summarize the important points in an article.
This graphic depicts a proximity search as follows clon* w15 moral* and the search field delimiter is set to Abstract (AB)
The search below is like the two above, except if you look in the lower right hand corner of the search area, you will note that "search within full text articles" has been enabled, which runs a keyword search against the full text of articles rather than simply the indexed fields (like title, author, etc.) This search returns 350+ articles.
This graphic depicts a proximity search clon* w15 moral* with the search field delimiter set to All Fields and the box "Search Within Full Text Articles" checked.
The search below has enabled the "Peer Reviewed" delimiter. This restricts the search to journals that use peer review, reducing the number of hits to 100+.
This graphic depicts the proxmity search clon* w/15 moral* with the search field delimiter set to all fields. Also the search has the Peer Review box checked and the "search within full text articles" box checked
The search below is the same as the one above, except that the full-text delimiter is enabled. This reduces the number of hits to 70+.
This graphic depicts the proximity search clon* w15 moral* with the search field delimter set to all fields. Additionally, the peer review box is enabled and "search within full text aritcles" is enabled and the Full Text check box is enabled.
This search is similar to the one above, except that it is limited to searching for articles in the British medical journal, The Lancet. This search returns 7+ articles. Unlike Academic Universe, Academic Search Elite does not allow searches in more than one named journal at a time, e.g. lancet or ecologist as a search returns an error message.
This graphic depicts the proximity search clon* w15 moral* with the search field delimiter set to All Fields. The peer review, full text, and search within full text articles check boxes have been enabled. Additionally, lancet has been typed into the magazine box.
This search is similar to the one above. However, it is no longer limited to the Lancet, but is instead limited to articles published after January 2000 and before December 2001. Note that the dates are expressed as two digit numbers. This search returns 18+ articles.
This graphic depicts the proximity search clon* w15 moral with the search field delimiter set to all fields. The Peer Reviewed, Search Within Full Text Articles, and Full Text check boxes are enabled. Additionally, the date delimter has been set to Jan 00 and Dec 01.