Research Paper: How to Boolean Search the Internet Effectively

Virtually all online search engines search the Internet using what is called Boolean logic, named for mathematician George Boole. It uses phrases that explain the logical relationships between two or more terms with "operators," such as "AND," "OR" or "NOT." These phrases can either be constructed by the user (called Full Boolean Logic) or by the search engine itself.

Instructions

Full Boolean Logic for Older Databases and Search Engines

1

Some search engines and electronic databases, especially those created prior to the year 1998 (such as HotBot, Lycos, AltaVista, and others) still use full booelan logic. To return results containing one of two or more terms in this system, type the word "OR" in capital letters before each term. For example, to search for results that contain at least one of the words "summer," "beach" or "surf", type into the search field "summer OR beach OR surf."

2

To search for entries that contain more than one search term, type "AND" in capital letters between each one. To search for results that contain all three terms "summer", "beach", and "surf" at once, enter "summer AND beach AND surf" into text field.

3

To exclude results containing a certain term, append the term to the end with a "NOT" operator. For example, to search for entries about beaches while filtering out results about Miami, enter "beaches NOT Miami" into the text field.

Implied Boolean Logic

4

To search within more modern engines for entries containing all of two or more entries (an "AND" search), simply enter all the terms into the text field, separated by spaces. In this method, the example search from previously would be entered as "summer beach surf."

5

To filter out certain results (a "NOT" search), place a minus sign before each term to be excluded. Searching for "beaches" but not "Miami" would be entered as "beaches -Miami."

6

To conduct an "OR" search, which is not available on engines that use Implied Boolean, either check your search engine's options and settings to see if it can be switched to Full Boolean, enter your search in a Full Boolean engine, or click the "Advanced Search."

Boolean Searching Using Search-Form Terminology

7

If your chosen search engine is more recent and features an "Advanced Search" link, click on it.

8

In the form that appears, carry out a search that contains at least one of a series of terms (an "OR" search), find a text field with a label that says "Any of the words," "At least one of the words" or "Should contain the words." Enter each of the terms here, separated by spaces.

9

Search for results that contain all of a series of keywords by entering them into a field marked "All of these words" or "Must contain the words."

10

Exclude search results by typing words to be filtered out into a space labeled "Must not contain the words" or "Should not contain the words."