Boolean Operators
Boolean operators (or logical operators), named after the logician George Boole, create relationships between search terms and allow you to
find the result of the intersection of two search terms.
There are three Boolean operators which you can use in Expanded Academic ASAP:
AND
The AND operator is used to tell the database to search for articles that have both words located in the text. For instance, you are looking for articles that would discuss the topics of crime and poverty (and possible correlations). The search: crime AND poverty finds only those articles in which both the word
crime and the word poverty occur.
Result of search: crime AND poverty"
OR
The OR operator is used to search for articles that have one or the other or
both of the words in the text. This operator is used mainly to search for terms that have similar or exact meaning. For
example, some publications use periods when abbreviating United Nations, some don’t. The search: "UN or U.N." finds records in which
either the word UN or the word U.N. or both
occur.
Result of search: "UN or U.N."
NOT
The NOT operator is used to exclude articles that have a certain word in the text. For example we are looking for information about a Saturn automobile, not a planet named Saturn). The search: Saturn not
planet finds all records in which the word Saturn occurs
except the ones in which the word planet also
occurs.
Result of search: "Saturn NOT planet"
Back to LACC Library Homepage
For more information please contact:
