Boolean Operators
Channel: Amelia Gayle Gorgas
Date: 2014-01-17

This video carries the creative commons license: Attribution-NoDerivs (CC BY-ND ) (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/)

Ever wonder if there was a magic way you could make your search results more specific? Wonder no more! Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) are three words you can use in your searches that will tell a search engine EXACTLY what you are looking for!

Transcript- Boolean Operators
Created: January 2014

Hi, my name is Elizabeth and I’m here to talk to you today about Boolean Operators.  By the end of this tutorial you will be able to create a search string using the terms AND OR and NOT.

Now that we have chosen our keywords, we are going to plug these keywords into Scout using something called Boolean Operators. 

So, what are Boolean Operators? “Boolean Operators” is just a fancy term for the search aids AND OR and NOT. When used appropriately, AND OR and NOT are *basically* magic words that can help you retrieve better search results. 

AND and OR are probably the magic words that you will be using the most.  A good way to remember what each of these do is to recall the phrase “OR brings you more.”

For example, if you were to search for the keywords Zombies OR “Popular Culture,” you would receive articles on both zombies and articles on popular culture.  However, if you were to search for zombies AND popular culture...you would only get results that deal with zombies AND popular culture...together.

Still confused?  Let me show you.  This is Zombies OR Popular Culture.  And this is Zombies AND popular culture. Together.

It’s also important to note that OR can be used for synonyms. Not all authors use the same terms, so we must choose some synonyms to make sure we find all of the relevant information out there.  For example, when conducting a search on zombies AND “popular culture”...we might want to clarify that we’ll take results containing the words zombies OR undead.

Now, the final Boolean Operator we’re going to talk about is “NOT.”  NOT should only be used if you want to eliminate a term.  For example, say we only wanted information on the history of zombies AND television but not information on zombies and movies.  Well, then we would clarify with the NOT operator.  Zombies AND television NOT movies.

In the end, the best way to learn about how boolean operators work is to play around with them and see the types of results you get.  The more you use them, the better you will understand their function.  And remember, “Or means more!”

Thank you for watching.  Please see our next video to learn how to limit your search results to help better narrow down your search.  Also, don’t forget to visit us at lib.ua.edu.