Boolean Searching is a technique that helps you fine-tune your search results using different modifiers like AND, OR, and NOT. You can use Boolean search terms to narrow your search results more precisely than using general terms.
Using AND in a search will only return results that include both terms. This is useful when you want to find items that discuss two topics in tandem. Make sure to use the word AND and not an ampersand, &, as not all databases support the symbol.
For example: architecture AND brutalism
Using OR in a search will return results that have one or the other search term. This is useful when multiple terms are used to refer to the same thing, or when the colloquial and academic terms for a topic are different from one another.
For example: police OR cops OR law enforcement
Using NOT in a search will exclude specific terms. This is a good operator if you're seeing a lot of results that aren't directly relevant to your specific research topic.
For example: botany NOT art
You can improve your searches further by using certain punctuation marks to group words in the search.
Quotation marks " " will provide results using only the exact phrase you entered between the quotation marks.
For example: "lithium ion batteries" will not return unrelated results about lithium or ions; only results where those three words are found in that exact order.
Parentheses ( ) allow you to group specific keywords together while keeping other separate.
For example: Searching ("capital punishment" OR "death penalty") AND ethics would return results that have either "death penalty" and "ethics" OR "capital punishment" and "ethics" as subjects.
Asterisks * allow you to search variations on a specific word, including pluralizations and different grammatical forms.
For example: Searching "wom*n" will return results for both "womAn" and "womEn".
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