Boolean Operators

Name:  Afton Grossardt

Search Keys	Purpose of limiter	What did you find when you tried it? How many hits? Was this limiter effective?
AND	Used to modify a search when you’re looking for an article that contains more than one specific item or term in certain databases.	Articles containing the words American and man, usually as a focal point / 63,727 hits / Yes
OR	Used to modify a search when you’re looking for articles that contain one specific item or term or another specific item or term in certain databases.	Articles that contained either the words American or man / 2,270,685 hits / Yes
NOT	Used to exclude articles that contain specific items from you search in certain databases.	Articles that contained the word American but not man / 1,709,425 / Yes
“                    “	Searches articles that contain the words as one phrase.	Articles that contained and focused on the exact phrase “American man” / 767 / Yes
*	Expands a search to include all versions of the root word.	Articles that contained the word American and variations of the root word “man” / 294,319 / Yes
- (minus)	Akin to using the “not” limiter.  Only searches sites that contain one word and are not related to another.	Articles containing the words American and man, usually as a focal point / 63,727 hits / Confused on this one
+ (plus)	Akin to using the “and” limiter.  Only searches articles that contain a word in relation to a second word.	Articles containing the words American and man, usually as a focal point / 63,727 hits / Yes
?	Used as a single character “wildcard” for finding alternate spellings to a word, e.g. Wom?n could search “Woman” and “Women.”	Articles containing the word American and the words man, men, min, etc. / 68,026 hits / Yes
Brackets ( )	Modifies the order of your search, specifying the database must search the terms in the brackets first before proceeding to the next part of the search.	Articles containing American and man but not the word African / 55,041 hits / Yes
Near	Finds articles that contains specified words or terms within 10 words of one another.	Articles that contained the word American within 10 words of the word man / 1,314 / Yes
Before	Proximity term that searches for articles containing words in a certain order, e.g., social before security	Articles that contained the word American before the word man / 4496 hits / Yes
After	Proximity term that searchers for articles containing words in a certain order, e.g., security after social	Articles that contained the word American after the word man / 10,842 / Yes