![]() How to use Boolean logic to narrow your searchīoolean operators help search engines use logic to limit, narrow, or broaden your search results in order to surface content that is most relevant to your search.Based on George Boule's algebraic system of logic, Boolean operators allow the combination of words to refine a search. #Google boolean search operatordz how to# To use them, Boolean operators must be typed in all capital letters. Learn more about the AND, OR, and NOT operators, and how they work on JSTOR, below:ĪND is the default Boolean operator, and using it will narrow your search results by telling the search engine to return results that have BOTH/ALL search terms present.įor example, when you search JSTOR for scholarly content using only the search term "unicorn," the search yields a very large set of results. This will decrease the number of results to review and help you more easily find a relevant article.Īll 1,386 total results will include both the term “unicorn” and the term “maiden.” If, for example, you are interested in researching the claim that unicorns appear to maidens, you might refine this set of results further by adding the operator AND along with "maiden” to your "unicorn" search. Using the OR Boolean operator will expand your search results by telling the search engine to return results that have EITHER/ANY of the search terms present.įor exampe, if you wanted to expand your results to include texts that mention unicorns and include results that mention Pegasus as well, the OR operator would expand that search:Īfter using the OR operator, you will return an expanded list of results to review. The OR operator also works well if you want to include multiple synonyms in the same search. ![]() If you are seeing too many results that are not relevant to their research, finding a common pattern or theme in those results in which you might exclude a term, might be helpful.įor example, if you were only looking for scholarship on magical creatures that mentions unicorns or Pegasus, but do not want to see any results that include tapestries, the following query would work: Using the NOT Boolean operator will narrow your search results by telling the search engine to exclude results that have a particular search term present. This set of results is smaller than the previous one, and no longer includes any content that includes the word, "tapestry." Using NOT in queries let the search engine know that we are not interested in the subsequent terms of the search. When your search query includes multiple Boolean operators, parenthesis are important to help the search engine group them in a way that is relevant for your research. In the above example, (unicorn OR Pegasus) is a sub-query. By grouping the terms this way, you are telling the search engine which terms must be present and which terms are optional. This eliminates ambiguity for the search engine and ensures that in its results maiden must exist, either unicorn and pegasus may exist, but that the term "tapestry" should not exist.When combining your search terms, be aware of your search order. Particularly when you are building complex searches with multiple keywords and Boolean operators, you will need to be careful so that you can get the results you want.ĭatabases will usually process Boolean operators in order, with AND first. So, any keywords linked with AND will be processed first, before those with OR. If you are using a combination of AND and OR, use parentheses (brackets) to group your keywords together to make sure they are processed in the correct order. Use parentheses around your synonyms, alternatives or related terms combined with OR to keep them together. We are searching for social media or fake news in relation to elections. #Google boolean search operatordz how to#.
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