No need to put up wanted posters for your search results. BOOlean operators aren’t just for Halloween. Use a combination of AND/OR/NOT to get exactly the results you want. With a search for (Dead OR Alive) NOT Undead, you’ll get all of the results that are dead and all of the results that are alive, but none of the results that are undead.
Sorry zombies! If we wanted you, we’d probably have searched for (Dead AND Alive) OR Undead. That search would only bring back the results that were both dead and alive, as well as the results that were undead…and then we’d have all of the zombies and only the zombies.
Boolean operators are the difference between Bon Jovi’s Wanted Dead or Alive and Michael Jackson’s Thriller. Who knew?
Happy Halloween everyone!
Halloween is approaching, which means it’s time to talk about BOO-lean operators! Boolean operators allow a researcher to get more accurate search results by giving a database instructions on how to search for the keywords the operators connect.
In the example above, the operators are OR and NOT. OR tells the database that either or both of the terms it connects should be in the search results. NOT tells the database that the following term should not be in the search results. Your results will expand or narrow depending on which operator you use.
Most databases default to AND, and they automatically assume that all of your search terms must be in the results. But if you are searching multiple keywords, it’s best to input the operators yourself to make sure your results are as accurate as possible.
Here are some examples:
AND Narrows All of the search terms it connects must exist in each result.
Elizabethtown AND College
OR Expands Any of the search terms it connects can exist in the results.
Elizabethtown OR E-town OR Etown
NOT Excludes The search term following it cannot exist in the results.
Elizabethtown NOT Movie
( ) Combines Use parenthesis to group terms together, if you are using a combination of operators.
(Elizabethtown OR E-town OR Etown) AND College
“ ” Specifies Use quotation marks to indicate that terms are an exact phrase.
“Elizabethtown College"
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