Boolean Search

1. OCTOBER 2, 2012
AGENDA Daily
Warm Up
• Log in and complete Daily Warm-
up
• Turbo Typing Lessons 2.3 and 2.4
• Boolean Operators PPT and
Discussion.
• Boolean Assignment located on
my webpage under Assignments
Tech Apps.
What is a search engine? (Define)
List at least five search engines.

2. AND, OR, NOT, Parenthesis, NEAR
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USING BOOLEAN
OPERATORS

3. Searching the NET can be a daunting task.
You could spend hours on an unfocused quest.
The NET can be organized into sensible information by
using search tools.
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LET GET STARTED!

4. If you enter AND between two words then your search will
only yield documents that contain both words, narrowing
your search.
If you enter goldfish AND guppies then your search will
yield only documents with both words.
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BOOLEAN OPERATOR AND

5. If you enter OR between two words then your search will
look for either word (you don’t care which word),
broadening your search.
If you type in goldfish OR guppies in your search engine
then your search will yield documents that contain the
word goldfish or the word guppies.
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BOOLEAN OPERATOR
OR

6. NOT tells the search engine to disregard those
documents that contain a word.
This is a powerful command and should be used
sparingly.
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BOOLEAN OPERATOR NOT

7. 5/9/2023
If you search goldfish and guppy and gets lots
of information about swordtails, you might be
tempted to try NOT swordtails.
But what if the best authority on goldfish is an
authority on swordtails, too? What if her name
is Irma Swordtail? You could miss lots of
information.
Why not Not?

8. 5/9/2023
Search engines do not read left to right.
Most interpret the AND first, then follow with the OR.
You can tell the search engine to interpret the OR first by
typing (goldfish OR guppies) AND food .
Don’t use ( ) when you’re only using AND.
BOOLEAN OPERATOR PARENTHESIS ( )

9. Narrow a search by using the term NEAR to retrieve only
documents where the searched words appear close
together.
If you search for information on gray cats, and you type gray
AND cats, documents describing cats that lived in gray
houses, or slept on gray mats, or woke up and the day was
gray might appear on the list.
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BOOLEAN OPERATOR NEAR

10. Each search engine has different rules about
upper and lower case letters and the use of
Boolean operators. Check their directions.
Try some experimental searches. Browse the
results and make any necessary
adjustments to the structure of your search
words and operators.
With a little practice, you can save hours of
time in cyberspace and focus on the task at
hand!
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NOW GIVE IT A TRY!