Student Resources: Search Techniques

If you order Mac and Cheese in a restaurant, would you expect to get this?

   AND   

I don't think so.  I think you would expect this:

When searching databases, typing the Boolean operator "and" between the terms ensures that you get resources that contain BOTH of the terms!

Not sure what terms the author used?  Try using some synonyms and type OR between them.

Example:  college or university

That search retrieves all the resources that mention college or university (so you get a lot more results than if you just put college). 

Here's how to remember it:

OR gets you mORe.

George Boole (1815 – 1864) was an English mathematician, philosopher and logician.These "logical operators" are named after him.

Use caution in using NOT...it can rule out resources that might be useful.

Here's an example of using NOT

Buffalo Bill not football

   NOT   

Truncation  or Wildcard Searching can be used in any search environment. The truncation symbol is the * (asterisk). By putting the * at the end of a root word you can get variant spellings of that search term. For example:

                        If you put the * after the word CHILD* you will get search results that contain the words, CHILD, CHILDREN, CHILDHOOD, CHILDLESS and any word that begins with CHILD.