Boolean Operators
One of the easiest ways to refine your search is to use the Boolean operators, and everyone has used them, even if accidently.
The chart below explains differences between the Boolean operators.
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Boolean operator
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Function
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Example
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AND
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· Narrows search result
· Finds articles/websites with both terms in them. Terms may not necessarily be next to each other
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Children AND Divorce (retrieves articles with both terms)
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OR
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· Broadens search result
· Use to combine similar terms. One or the other search term must appear in the article/website
· Put parentheses around your ORs
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"Moral Development" OR "Moral Reasoning" (retrieves articles with either term)
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NOT
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· Narrows search result
· Use to eliminate terms from search
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"Play Therapy" NOT Sandplay (eliminates articles that have the word Sandplay in them)
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Phrase or Full Name searching
Quotation marks keeps the words of a phrase together.
"Port Huron"
"Grumpy Cat"
"Jerry Lewis"
Truncation
Most databases use the asterisk * to truncate words. For example, child* will search for the words child or child’s or children or childlike.
