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AN 470: Bioarchaeology: Boolean Operators

This LibGuide is in support of Dr. Gregoricka's AN 470 course.

Searching Databases with Boolean Operators

Databases cannot be searched using questions like Google. Instead, searches are combinations of search terms

Search terms can be combined with Boolean operators. Boolean operators, search terms, and punctuation marks are the language that databases speak.

There are six Boolean Operators/Modifiers and all databases use them. You can even use them on Google Scholar.

Boolean Operators and Modifiers
Operator What does it do? An Example
AND Results will contain both or all of the keywords if AND is used between each one. This is often used to tie together your main keywords. college campus AND parking
OR Results will contain either of the keywords, but not necessarily both. This is often used for related terms where you want to capture sources that use either term. college OR university
NOT Results will contain the first keyword, but they will not have the second keyword. Be careful with this operator, it is easy to miss relevant results using 'NOT'. football NOT soccer
Quotation marks "" Quotation marks look for an exact phrase. The words will be found next to each other in the order that you put them. In our example, articles only mentioning college or library will not be included, only the phrase "college library" "college library"
Parentheses () Parentheses allow you to group and order your search. In the example here, you will search for the terms college or university and then refine by only showing those searches that also include parking (college OR university) AND parking
Asterisk * An asterisk truncates a word and allows searching for variations of a word. For the example shown here, you will find the following: program, programs, programmer, programming, programmed program*

 

Narrowing a Search

AND

AND limits your search results to only items that include both/all search terms.

Broadening a Search

OR

OR widens your search results to include items with either term, regardless of how those terms relate. 

Excluding Terms

NOT

NOT can eliminate the irrelevant phrases from your search results. NOT tells a database to not show any results containing that term. Be cautious. NOT can accidentally cut out relevant items from your search results.