Part of Lesson Plan: About Boolean Searches

Activity Overview / Details

Basic Boolean Search Operators

What are some of the basic operators?

• The Boolean search operator AND is equal to the "+" symbol.
• The Boolean search operator NOT is equal to the "-" symbol.
• The Boolean search operator OR is the default setting of any search engine; meaning, all search engines will return all the words you type in, automatically.
  • The Boolean search operator OR is the default setting of any search engine; meaning, all search engines will return all the words you type in, automatically.
• The Boolean search operator NEAR is equal to putting a search query in quotes, i.e., "sponge bob squarepants". You're essentially telling the search engine that you want all of these words, in this specific order, or this specific phrase.
  • The Boolean search operator NEAR is equal to putting a search query in quotes, i.e., "sponge bob squarepants". You're essentially telling the search engine that you want all of these words, in this specific order, or this specific phrase.
• Just remember that at this point, you can often combine ideas by simply putting a comma between them
• AND
  • Using AND narrows a search by combining terms; it will retrieve documents that use both the search terms you specify, as in this example:
    • Portland AND Oregon
• OR
  • Using OR broadens a search to include results that contain either of the words you type in. OR is a good tool to use when there are several common spellings or synonyms of a word, as in this example:
    • liberal OR democrat
• NOT
  • Using NOT will narrow a search by excluding certain search terms. NOT retrieves documents that contain one, but not the other, of the search terms you enter, as in this example:
    • Oregon NOT travel.