Boolean Searching: Help

Boolean operators and nesting (using parentheses) can be very helpful search strategies, because they allow you to combine words or phrases to make a search more specific.

Note:

• These examples apply only to Keyword and Advanced searching, not to Ranked Keyword or other types of searches.
• You must always use quotation marks around phrases in Keyword search queries (e.g. “Gaia hypothesis”); otherwise the system will search for each word separately rather than together.
• In Advanced searching, Boolean operators are selected from a radio button rather than typed in by hand.

Concept	Search Examples	Retrieval Formula
and	sustainable and agriculture Venezuela and "free trade" vikings and russia "gaia hypothesis" and "global warming"	Retrieves only records containing both terms.
or	jazz or bebop  60 or sixty  "color theory" or "colour theory"	Retrieves records containing either one or more terms.
not	burma not myanmar  "civil war" not american architecture not landscape	Excludes records containing the second term.
nesting	(temple? or pyramid?) and maya? acid and (rain or precipitation)	Use parentheses ( ) to group segments of boolean queries for more complex searches.