Using parentheses or quotes around search words is a common way to do phrase searching, but not all databases or search engines use them.
W# can specify that words appear in the order you type them
Substitute the # with a number of words that may appear in between. If no number is given, then it specifies an exact phrase.
Examples: cold W2 therapy, it retrieves: cold therapy, cold water therapy, etc.)
N# can specify that the words may appear in any order.
Substitute the # with a number of words that may appear in between.
Examples: cloning N3 human, it retrieves: cloning of humans, human cloning etc.)
Proximity Operators vary from database to database (ADJ#, W/#, N/#, NEAR#, etc), you need to check the Help section of each database to see what they use, look for Proximity Operators or Proximity Searching
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