Boolean Operators: Search Tips
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)
