Searching Principles: The Big Three
1. Phrases: When you need to make sure that two or more words are adjacent to each other.
2. Boolean Operators / Connectors: Using words or symbols between your search terms to specify how those terms will be processed together. Includes AND, OR, and NOT.
- AND finds only items that contain both of the search terms (limits results)
- OR finds items that contain either one of the search terms (expands results)
- NOT eliminates items that contain that term (limits results)
Example: zeppelin not led
Use parentheses when combining connectors.
Example: (ethics or morals) and medicine
3. Wildcards / Truncation: Using a symbol to replace a letter or group of letters. Allows you to search for many variations of a word at one time.
Example: ethic* finds ethic, ethics, ethical, and ethically
Applying the Principles
