Search Basics

Knowing how best to utilize search tools can prove invaluable when researching material for an assignment.

Boolean operators tell a search tool how to interpret a series of keywords. The main search operators are:

AND which retrieves records that contain all of the words or phrases specified and is used to link concepts together
OR which retrieves records that contain any of the words or phrases specified and is used to find terms that can express the same concept

Example

AND Topic: Fishing in Iceland
>> fishing AND Iceland
By using the Boolean operator AND, the search tool will retrieve all the records that contain both words:

(You want only the items that fall within the yellow area)

OR Topic: Homeless youth (synonyms can be used for the concept of "youth")
>> youth OR teenagers OR adolescents
By using the Boolean operator OR, the search tool will retrieve all the records that contain any of the words providing you with a much broader list of results.

(You want all items that contain any of these words, anything within the entire green area)