How can I improve my search results using Boolean Operators/Connectors & / or parentheses?
The parentheses are used in Boolean searching to indicate when a separate search should be processed. Sort of like math. For example if I am looking for articles about eating disorders and children or teens I would enter my search like this: “eating disorders” AND (children OR teens) The computer will look for the phrase “eating disorders” and find a number of hits. Then the computer searches for the word children in an article OR the word teens — the OR searches for either one of the words or for both words! Once the computer has found hits for children or teens then it combines it with the number of hits for “eating disorders”. Think of it like a math problem: 2 + (2 x 4) = 10 2 + 2 x 4 = 16 Two different results. In the first example the computer processes the search inside the parentheses then combines it with the other parts of the search. In the second example the computer processes the search just like it is entered, from left to right.
