What do you do after you've brainstormed for search terms? You'll
need to combine them in a logical fashion so that the database
understands the information you seek. Databases facilitate this
type of search with the boolean operators AND,
OR, and NOT. Here are some exampes
of how to use them:
| AND |
Makes
the search more specific. Used to combine two or more key
concepts. If the research question is "How
does marijuana affect teenagers?" Construct
the search with AND:
marijuana
AND teenagers |
marijuana
AND
teenagers
|
| OR |
Broadens
a search. Used to combine synonymous or related terms together.
Locates references that include any of the terms you enter,
but not necessarily all:
therapeutic
OR medicine |
therapeutic
OR medicine
|
| NOT |
Used
to exclude documents that contain a certain term. It retrieves
references that include the first term but not the second:
Mexico
NOT new |
Mexico NOT new
|
Click
on the back arrow and select Truncation.
