Boolean searching
- 1. Boolean SearchingImprove your database and internet searching with Boolean operatorsCarteret Community College LibraryContent by Tara Guthrie
- 2. What is Boolean searching?Based on a method of logic developed by George Boole, a 19th century English mathematician.
- 3. Most online databases and Internet search engines support Boolean searches.
- 4. Allows you to do effective searches by cutting out many unrelated documents.Basic Boolean Operators:AND
- 5. OR
- 6. NOTANDUsing AND narrows your search.
- 7. It retrieves documents that contain both of the search terms or keywords that you specify.
- 8. The more terms you connect with AND, the fewer search results you will find.Example using AND:Poverty AND CrimeDocuments are retrieved containing both search terms.
- 9. Blue shaded area represents search results.povertycrime
- 10. ORUsing OR broadens your search.
- 11. It retrieves documents that contain either of the search terms or keywords that you specify, but not necessarily both.
- 12. The more terms you connect with OR, the more search results you will find. (Remember: OR gives you more!)
- 13. Use it to search for similar terms.Example using OR:College OR UniversityDocuments are retrieved containing either search term.
- 14. Gold shaded area represents search results.Collegeuniversity
- 15. NOTUsing NOT narrows your search.
- 16. It retrieves documents that do not contain a search term in your search.
- 17. Use NOT to exclude a term from your search and to find fewer results.Example using NOT:Cats NOT DogsDocuments are retrieved containing only information on cats, and nothing on dogs.
- 18. Purple shaded area represents search results.CatsDogs
- 19. Advanced Boolean Search Techniques“Quotation Marks”
- 20. (Parentheses)“Quotation Marks”Using quotation marks narrows your search.
- 21. It requires words to be searched as a phrase in the exact order that you type them within the quotation marks.
- 22. Helpful for searching multiple-word terms, places, or a person’s name.Example using “ ”:“global warming”
- 23. “New York City”
- 24. “Henry Miller”Note:Using “quotation marks” will give you different search results than if you use the AND operator between each word without quotes.
- 25. (Parentheses)(Parentheses) allow you to combine any of the Boolean operators together in combination.
- 26. Use NOT and OR together to limit your search.
- 27. Use AND and OR together to expand your search.
- 28. Using ( ) allows you to combine two possible searches into one, and it saves you time.Example #1 Using ( )“alternative energy” NOT (wind OR solar)Using this search string would allow you to find documents about alternative energy, but not wind or solar methods – it would only give you other methods.
- 29. Your search is narrowed by using NOT, and you exclude more by using OR.Example #2 Using ( )“peanut butter” and (salmonella OR “food poisoning”)Using this search string allows you to find anything about peanut butter as it relates to salmonella or food poisoning.
- 30. Salmonella and food poisoning are two related terms. So combining them in ( ) with OR helps us find more info.How do I know which Boolean Operators to use?AND
- 31. OR
- 32. NOT
- 33. “ ”
- 34. ( )Sample Question #1“I want to find information about cloning humans.”To find information on this topic, you might try a couple of different search strings. Here are two possibilities:Cloning AND human“human cloning”
- 35. Sample Question #2“I want to find information about either Brad Pitt or his wife, Angelina Jolie.”Suggested search:“Brad Pitt” OR “Angelina Jolie”
- 36. Sample Question #3“I want to find information about mummies, but not mummies in Egypt.”Suggested search:mummies NOT Egypt
- 37. Sample Question #4“I want to find information about behavior in cats.”Consider: Is there more than one search term we could use to find cat-related information?Possible search:Behavior AND (cats OR felines)
- 38. Sample Question #5“I want information on designing web sites, but not on specific web design software programs.”Consider: which software programs help you create web sites?Possible searches:“web site design” NOT (Dreamweaver OR “Front Page”)“web site design” NOT software
- 39. Remember:Your friendly library staff is here to help if you need further assistance!
- 40. Happy Searching!