QUICK TIPS

• Use double quotation marks (" ") around phrases to search exact phrases (words side by side in the same order).
  EXAMPLE: "synchronized swimming" or "bill of rights"
  
  
• Put the most important keywords first in your search string.
  EXAMPLE: dog breed family pet choose
  
  
• Type keywords and phrases in lower case to find both lower and upper case versions. Typing capital letters will usually return only an exact match.
  EXAMPLE: president retrieves both president and President
  
  
• Use truncation (or stemming) and wildcards (usually the symbol * or sometimes ?) to look for variations in spelling and word form.
  EXAMPLE: librar* returns library, libraries, librarian, etc.
  EXAMPLE: colo*r returns color (American spelling) and colour (British spelling)
  
  
• When searching within the returned web pages for the location of your keyword(s), use the "find on This Page" command under the web browser Edit menu. Your keyword on that web page will be highlighted.
  
  
• Many search engines feature "advanced search features" pages (look for a link near the search box on the home page) that may allow you to delimit your search by language, region, domain, date, and page content and also to easily perform more complex Boolean searches using combinations of terms. Google, Yahoo, and Hotbot have this useful feature.

• Use the plus (+) and the minus (-) signs in front of words to include or exclude the words in searches.
  EXAMPLE: +cowboys -football (The minus sign can eliminate terms that may come up in your results, but are not really related to your search topic.)
  EXAMPLE: disease +circulatory (This will retrieve any combination of the words on a web page including "circulatory disease," "disease of the circulatory system," disease which may affect the circulatory system", etc.)
  
  
• Phrases, keywords, quotes, and plus and minus signs may be combined for even more complex, targeted searches.
  EXAMPLE: +cowboys +"wild west" -football -Dallas

Boolean logic takes its name from British mathematician George Boole (1815-1864), who wrote about a system of logic designed to produce better search results by formulating precise queries. He called it the "calculus of thought." From his writings, we have derived Boolean logic and its operators: AND, OR, and NOT, which we use to link words and phrases for more precise queries.
The commands described above in "Search Engine Math" are usually easier for beginners to use and provide the same basic functions as Boolean commands, but here is a basic summary of Boolean search operators:

BOOLEAN "AND"
The Boolean AND actually narrows your search by retrieving only documents that contain every one of the keywords you enter. The more terms you enter, the narrower your search becomes.
EXAMPLE: truth AND justice
EXAMPLE: truth AND justice AND ethics AND congress

BOOLEAN "OR"
The Boolean OR expands your search by returning documents in which either or both keywords appear. Since the OR operator is usually used for keywords that are similar or synonymous, the more keywords you enter, the more documents you will retrieve.
EXAMPLE: college OR university
EXAMPLE: college OR university OR institution OR campus

NESTING -- WITH BOOLEAN OPERATORS
Nesting, i.e., using parentheses, is an effective way to combine several search statements into one search statement. Use parentheses to separate keywords when you are using more than one operator and three or more keywords.
EXAMPLE: (hybrid OR electric) AND (Toyota OR Honda)
(For best results, always enclose OR statements in parentheses.)

SEARCH NOTES
Remember that you need to check and see which search conventions are supported by the specific search tool that you are using. Not all search tools support all search techniques described here.

Advanced Search Features pages allow you to easily perform complex searches without knowing the technicalities of Boolean operators, nesting,etc.

For online search tutorials, see the following links:

"Conducting Research on the Internet" from University Libraries at the State University of New York at Albany

Internet Guides from the UC Berkeley Library

net.Tutor from the Ohio State University Libraries

KidsClick! Worlds of Web Searching - Suitable for younger students