Boolean searching is a way to make keyword searching more precise. Use the terms and, or, and not to show what terms to include or exclude in a search. Not should be used sparingly.
| AND (same as “all of these”) |
OR (same as “any of these”) |
NOT |
|
Use AND to combine terms to get fewer results. Use for different concepts. Internet AND Mental Health would find records that have both words in the record. |
Use OR to combine terms to get more results. Use for synonyms or similar concepts. Mental Health OR Depression would find records with either word in the record. |
Use NOT to eliminate records with a particular word. Depression NOT Economic would find everything on depression except items on economic depression. |
Use parentheses to indicate which ideas need to be processed together first. For example, if you want information on the effect of the Internet on either mental health or depression, write your search this way: (mental health or depression) and Internet.
? Truncation (at end of the word)
+ Required term (before the word)
* Important term (before the word)
! Exclude this term (same as NOT)
"" As a phrase
( ) Nesting
and/or/not Boolean operators
When you want two of more words to appear next to each other, in a particular order, in your search results, you would want to search “as a phrase”. Use quotation marks " " to make sure that the words are found next to each other instead of in different parts of the record.
Example: to search for New York, you would enter "new york".
Effects of television violence on children
Establishing a new government in Iraq
Preventing eating disorders in teenagers