Academic Research Booklet

Getting specific Boolean search terms are words and symbols which you can use in combination with your key words to create ‘word equations’ to narrow down your results when searching in databases and search engines such as Google and JSTOR. Operator Works On Function Example Notes

Finds results containing both terms Finds results containing either term Excludes results with the second term Excludes subtracted words Considers just the words in the brackets Searches for exact phrases Stands in for unknown words Finds words close together (meaning they are likely related) Limits search to a specific website Finds articles with the keyword in the title Filters for a specific file format

JSTOR, Google

women AND education

Google assumes AND by default between words

AND

JSTOR, Google

suffrage OR voting rights

Use for synonyms or related terms

OR

education NOT university

Google uses - instead, see next

NOT

JSTOR

education -university

Use no space between - and word Use when combining with other operators to make word equations Great for proper names or key phrases For thinking outside the box!

- (minus)

Google

(UK OR United Kingdom)

(brackets)

Google

JSTOR, Google

"" (quotes)

“women's rights”

* (wildcard)

Google

British * in 1920s

women NEAR/10 education

Use 5, 10, or 25 for best results

NEAR/

JSTOR

suffrage site:jstor.org

Good for narrowing results

site:

Google

intitle:"empress Cixi"

Helps find more targeted sources

intitle:

Google

Useful for finding downloadable documents

civil war filetype:pdf

filetype:

Google