How to use Boolean Operators in Internet Searching?
The purpose of this lesson is to learn to find the information as efficiently as possible. The major “search engines” for finding information often use “Boolean Operators”. The Boolean Operators AND, OR, NOT are used to link words and phrases for more precise searches. WHAT’S A “BOOLEAN”? Boolean logic derives its name from the British mathematician George Boole (1815-1864). Boole devised a system of logic that results in more precise searches. Boolean logic consists of three logical operators: AND, OR, and NOT. The examples on this page illustrate the use of the Boolean operators OR, AND, and NOT in Keyword searches. Boolean operators cannot be used in other types of searches such as subject or title. Keyword searches look for matches in the title, subject headings, author and note fields of each catalogue record. OR, AND, and NOT These words are often capitalized when they are used in searching. They can decrease or increase the size of a search. OR actually increases the size of a s
