Databases use precision searching and specific language to organize records, which means that we must use keywords, Boolean Operators (AND,OR, NOT), and limiters to effectively search in them.
AND: Narrows search results. For example: Cat AND Dog will result in sources that have both of these words contained in them.
OR: Broadens search results. For example: Cat OR Dog will result in any source that has either of these words contained in them.
NOT: Excludes certain keywords from search results. For example: Cat NOT Dog will result in only sources that have the word cat contained in them.
Truncation: Use an asterisk * to truncate and search for variations of a word, including plural forms. For example: immigrat* searches for the words immigrant, immigrants, immigrate, immigration
Wildcard: Use the question mark to represent more than one letter in a word, especially for words that do not form their plural by adding "s" or "es" and instead have different spellings. For example: wom?n searches for both women and woman.
Phrases: Use quotation marks to search for words as a phrase rather than separate single words. For example: "undocumented immigrant" will search for these two words together as a phrase. This also helps keep your search results narrow and more focuses on the topic you are looking for.
Example of using Booelan Search Logic in Milne Search:
(Wom?n OR gender) AND (workplace OR "work environment)