![]() In the example below, searching for sex education NOT abstinence-only will return articles on sex ed, but not those dealing with abstinence-only approaches. Use NOT with caution as good items can be eliminated from the results retrieved. ![]() when you want to exclude a certain type of article (book reviews, for instance, aren't typically helpful when writing a college-level paper).A Boolean search string combines keywords or an exact phrase, and Boolean operators to find. The standard Boolean operators (AND, OR) may have the same syntax and semantics, but the NOT operator can be misinterpreted (NOT is a Boolean unary operator but is often implemented as a binary AND NOT operator in search syntax). In the present day, it is a type of search that allows users to combine keywords and Boolean operators (AND, OR, and NOT) to create more targeted and accurate searches. you are interested in a very specific aspect of a topic (letting you weed out the issues that you're not planning to write about) Boolean search was first developed in the 19th century as a method of symbolic logic.NOT narrows your search by telling the database to eliminate all terms that follow it from your search results. So, if you type in death penalty OR capital punishment, your results will include articles with either term, but not necessarily both. This is particularly helpful when you are searching for synonyms, such as “death penalty” OR “capital punishment.” OR broadens a search by telling the database that any of the words it connects are acceptable. ![]() Often, databases will allow you to specify where in the article you want those keywords to appear (title, abstract, full text, etc.). All articles in your results will include both keywords. Search for two or more concepts that interest you by combining descriptive keywords with AND.įor instance, if you're interested in reading articles about how young people feel about politics, you can search for youth AND politics. But, in a designer OR (developer AND Java) search, Java knowledge is important only for the developers youre looking for not the designers. When used in library databases (typed between your keywords) they can make each search more precise - and save you time! See the steps below (or if you prefer, here is a short video).ĪND narrows a search by telling the database that ALL keywords used must be found in an article in order for it to appear in your results list. Boolean OperatorĮach search result will contain both the terms falls AND agedĮach search result will contain either (or both) of the terms falls OR agedĮach search result will contain both the terms falls AND aged but only if they do NOT contain the third term homeīoolean logic uses the terms AND, OR and NOT to combine concepts.Boolean operators are the words " AND", " OR" and " NOT". Now test your understanding in the next example by identifying how the results would appear and then clicking on the answer symbol to check your answer. Boolean OperatorĬombine keywords that reflect different conceptsĮach search result will contain both the terms art and therapyĬombine keywords that reflect similar conceptsĮach search result will contain either (or both) of the terms art or therapyĮach search result will contain both the terms art and therapy but only if they do not contain the third term children Use brackets when using Boolean Operators such as ‘(art AND therapy) NOT children’ so that the database will only look for articles about art and therapy but exclude those that mention children. Using NOT excludes information not required and reduces the number of resultsīrackets are used to define the order in which the concepts are processed. Boolean is a type of search that allows you to combine keywords with operators (or modifiers) such as AND, NOT, and OR (to name a few) to produce more relevant.Using OR searches a broader range of keywords and increases the number of results.Using AND narrows the search and decreases the number of results. ![]() The most commonly used Boolean Operators are AND, OR, and NOT. In the LC Catalog, Boolean OR expressions are executed first, followed by expressions using AND or NOT (which are. Searching Dialog: Boolean Operators: and, or, but not. Combining terms with Boolean Operators (AND, OR, NOT)īoolean Operators are specific words used to combine concepts or keywords to improve the chances of finding relevant information.
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