Search Syntax
Synthesis has a powerful search language to let you quickly find references within your project.
Search terms and phrases
Individual terms (words) e.g. behavior risk factor surveillance match references that contain all of the words.
Entire phrases in quotes e.g. "Behavior Risk Factor Surveillance System" match references that contain the phrase.
Boolean Operators
AND, OR, and NOT (must be capitalized) can be used for more complex queries.
| Operator | Example | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| AND | "diabetes" AND "hypertension" | |
| OR | "diabetes" OR "hypertension" | |
| NOT | "diabetes" NOT "hypertension" | |
| + | +"goodness of fit" | Include references that include the phrase "goodness of fit" |
| - | -"goodness of fit" | Exclude references that include the phrase "goodness of fit" |
Wildcards
Partial terms can be matched with wildcard characters * and ?
| Wildcard | Example | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| * | dia* | Match terms that begin with dia (e.g. dialog, diabetic) |
| ? | reali?e | Match terms with any character substituting for ? (e.g. realise, realize) |
Proximity Search
Proximity searches allow you to find documents where certain terms appear close together.
e.g. "health survey"~10 matches documents where "health" and "survey" appear within ten words of each other.
Searching within specific reference fields
By default, Synthesis looks within the title, abstract, and full text (if the PDF has been downloaded) for any terms entered. It is possible to search within specific fields by preprending the term or phrase with the the name of the field.
e.g. title:"health professional" matches documents that have the phrase "health professional" in the title.