Factiva Search Syntax
Most databases are similar to Google and will search for all the terms you enter. Factiva searches for your terms exactly as you enter them, so you need to use its special syntax for the best results.
Combining Terms
Factiva searches for text exactly as it is entered in the search box. You must use the Boolean operators And, Or, or Not to combine phrases.
| Term | Usage | Example |
|---|---|---|
| And | Both terms must appear | Cubs and White Sox |
| Or | Either or both terms will appear | Midway or Jackson Park |
| Not | Term will be excluded | Hyde Park not New York |
Proximity
Proximity operators let you look for words that are close to each other. This can often be more precise than combining terms with AND.
| Term | Usage | Example |
| same | Terms must be in the same paragraph | Chicago same Hyde Park |
| w/# | Terms must be within 1-10 words of each in the order entered | william w/3 harper |
| near# | Terms must be within 1-500 words of each other, in any order | Seattle near5 Amazon |
| /F#/ | Terms are in the first 1-500 words in an article | University of Chicago /F50/ |
Wildcards
Wildcards are used to replace characters or look for roots of words. Because Factiva searches for exact matches, you need to use wildcards to look for plurals or spelling variations.
| Special Character | Usage | Example |
|---|---|---|
| * (asterisk) | Searches for any number of characters after the asterisk | manufactur* Finds manufacture, manufacturing, manufacturers |
| $# (dollar sign) | Searches for stem plus 1-9 characters | earn$2 Finds earned but not earning |
| ? (question mark) | Replaces 1 character, use for variant spellings | globali?ation Finds globalization or globalisation |
Term Frequency
Term frequency allows you to specify the number of times a term appears. More occurrences of a term usually means an article is more relevant. These terms must be combined with "and"
| Term | Usage | Example |
| atleast | atleast followed by 1-50 then your term | atleast10 midway Midway must appear at least 10 times |
| WC | Word count. Specify how many words must appear with > or < followed by a number. | WC > 500 Articles must be greater than 500 words WC < 10000 (do not use commas) Articles must be less than 10,000 words -- useful for excluding transcripts |
Factiva Expert Searches
Factiva features pre-built searches for narrowing a search Click on Factiva Expert Search in the search options to expand the choices.
The news sentiment search is an easy way to find articles on a person or topic with a negative or positive slant.
