Boolean Searching   Tags: boolean operators, boolean searching, broadening, database searching, narrowing, searching tricks  

Boolean searching is the basis for all database and Internet searching.  This guide explains Boolean searching and how you can make it work for you by making your searches more effective.

For examples of other search tips, go to:

George Boole's system which he developed in 1854 was met with criticism by the academic community or ignored.  After being modified and expanded upon, the Boolean System became the system used to develop the modern electrical logic circuit, the basis for the computer.  Boolean Searching is the system used to search computer files such as UNISTAR and databases available in Rod Library.

Below are links to sites that are useful in understanding the Boolean Operators and Boolean Searching.

• Boolean Tutorial (basic) by  Colorado State University Libraries
   
• Advanced Boolean Tutorial by Colorado State University Libraries
   
• Boolean Searching -- the Operators AND, AND NOT, OR  by Pandia of P&S Koch, Oslo, Norway
   
• Boolean Searching  by Colorado State University Libraries
   
• Internet Tutorials: Boolean Searching on the Internet  by State University of New York, University at Albany
   
• Searching  with Boolean Logic and Proximity Operators by University of South Carolina, Beaufort Library

See also these closely related topics:

• Truncation Tutorial  and Truncation and Proximity Operators by Colorado State University
• Linking Words with Adjacency  and Searching for Word Variations (truncation and wildcards) by Victoria University Library
• Nesting by Victoria University Library
• Constructing a Search Statement by University of North Carolina, Asheville

You may also click on Help when using databases.  These will often give you hints based on Boolean searching to help you search that database more effectively.