Boolean Operators

Operators – “AND”   “OR”   “NOT” / “AND NOT”

AND

Narrows search by retrieving documents that contains every one of the keywords; the more terms, the narrower the search

EXAMPLE:   truth AND justice

EXAMPLE:   truth AND justice AND ethics AND congress

OR

Broadens search by returning documents that contains either or both; useful mainly to obtain pages with similar words or ideas (synonyms)

EXAMPLE:   college OR university

EXAMPLE:   college OR university OR institution OR campus

NOT or AND NOT (ANDNOT)

Limits search by excluding documents that contain the second keyword

EXAMPLE:   saturn  AND  NOT car

EXAMPLE:   pepsi AND  NOT coke

Nesting with Boolean Operators

Nesting, i.e., using parentheses is an effective way to combine several search statements into one search statement. Use parentheses to separate keywords when you are using more than one operator and three or more keywords.

EXAMPLE:  (hybrid OR electric) AND (Toyota OR Honda)

      (For best results, always enclose OR statements in parentheses.)

Note: in most search engines (e.g. Google), the AND Boolean operator is assumed; some may use OR

Examples come from the USC Beaufort Library

Simplified search syntax

Use “+” in front of words that must be present (Boolean AND)

Use “-“ in front of words that are not wanted (Boolean NOT)

Use double quotation marks (“ “) around phrases to search for that exact combination and order

See USC Beaufort Library quick Tips page
http://www.sc.edu/beaufort/library/pages/bones/lesson7.shtml

Advanced Search Pages

Gives you a menu-driven option instead of using Boolean operators

http://www.google.com/advanced_search?hl=en

Field Searching

http://www.sc.edu/beaufort/library/pages/bones/lesson9.shtml