Searching the Databases

Boolean operators can be used to expand or decrease search results. 

"AND" searches for results where two terms appear together.

"NOT" excludes a term from the search.

"OR" finds results where either of two terms appear together or separately.

These Boolean operators are best explained by way of a Venn diagram.  See the image below for understanding of how they work. 

• The "AND" operator is often implied in databases. Therefore it may not necessary to include it in some circumstances. 
• Search strings that include lots of Boolean operators tend to skew the results.
• Boolean operators are often displayed on a drop menu beside a database search bar.