Guides: Paideia 112 Research Unit: 2a. General Search Strategies

Searching with Keywords and Connector Words

To get the best results in your searching, use both key words and connector words in what is called a search string. Connector words (or 'boolean operators') produce different results based on specific rules of search logic. For example:

Operator	Examples	Results
AND	business AND ethics cookery AND Spain	Retrieves records that contain ALL of the search terms.
OR	hotels OR motels www OR world wide web theater OR theatre	Retrieves records that contain ANY of the search terms, but does not necessarily include all of them.
NOT	java NOT coffee Clinton NOT (William OR Bill)	Excludes records containing the second search term.

Root Words

You can broaden your search and allow you to look for variations of words by using an asterisk after a “root word” (called a truncation or wildcard symbol.)

For example, searching sport* would bring up the root word "sport," as well as variations such as "sports," "sporting," "sporty," etc.

Such symbols may vary depending on the electronic resource you are searching. You may need to consult the database’s “help” or “search tips” pages.