Creating a Boolean search statement

Boolean Searching

 

In order to perform searches well, you need to know how to do a Boolean Search. Boolean searching is a way of combining terms so that you retrieve what you really want.

 

In order to construct an effective search statement you need to decide:

1. What you want to know. Suppose you are interested in finding information on
   scholarships available to college students.
2. How many concepts you have. You have two concepts: a) college students
   b) scholarships What words describe those concepts. You may decide that the words "university" and "college" could describe the students in concept a. The words
   "scholarships" and "grants" describe concept b.
3. Your next step is to use Boolean Operators to create your search statement.

Boolean Search Operators

	AND	AND means every term you type must be present in the record. Use of AND narrows, or focuses, your search.
	OR	OR means one of the terms must be present in the record. OR is useful for synonyms or alternate spellings of words. Use of OR broadens your search.
	NOT	NOT means that a term must not be present in the record.
word*	TRUNCATION	TRUNCATION allows you to search for different forms of a word by using a symbol to represent the alternate endings of the root word.
(word or words)	NESTING	NESTING or ORDER OF OPERATION uses parentheses to indicate which terms belong together in a set.

Now you are ready to create your Boolean search statement:

(college* or universit*) and student* and (scholarship* or grant*)

SEARCH RESULTS:

 

Excluding terms

 

Suppose you want to exclude information about scholarships available in Canada. You can modify your search statement.

 

(college* or universit*) and student* and (scholarship* or grant*) not Canad*

 

Be careful when using NOT, since you will exclude some information that may be very useful to your research.

Remember, reference librarians are always happy to work with you to create a search statement. Be sure to ask.