- AND
- OR
- NOT
AND
AND is the most common of the Boolean Operators. AND will narrow down your search so you get less results, because it is telling the database that your search results must include every one of your search terms.
When you use AND to combine your keywords, keep in mind that while you will get results that have all of your keywords together, they might not necessarily be next to one another.
Examples
students AND community college
concussions AND football
textbooks AND student success
Searching Using AND - EBSCO
Searching Using AND - Gale
OR
The Boolean Operator OR broadens your search. Remember that in database searching, OR means MORE results. OR tells the database that you want results that mention one or both of your search terms.
OR is a helpful operator to use if you have a search term that has multiple meanings, like preschool OR nursery school. You will notice when you do your searching, that some authors might use the term "preschool" and others will use "nursery school" to mean the exact same thing. OR helps you make sure that you find the most possible articles about your topic.
Examples
traumatic brain injury OR TBI
Artificial Intelligence OR AI
Salem Witch Trials OR Salem Witchcraft Trials
Searching Using OR - EBSCO
Searching Using OR - Gale
NOT
The Boolean Operator NOT helps narrow your search by excluding certain terms from your search. When using NOT, you are telling the database that you want information that is related to the first term, but not the second.
NOT is useful if one of your keywords has multiple meanings that keep giving you irrelevant results.
Examples
Hedy Lamarr NOT Hollywood
presidential elections NOT United States
dinosaurs NOT extinction
Searching Using NOT - EBSCO
Searching Using NOT - Gale
