These operators must generally be in capitals. AND specifies that the documents found must contain all words joined by the AND operator. This broadens the search. The search Apples OR Oranges will retrieve more documents than the more narrowly focused Apples AND Oranges. For example, to search for documents containing the word Boys but not the word Girls, key in Boys AND NOT Girls .
Parentheses are important when using Boolean searching.
They group terms logically in complex searches. In some search engines, AltaVista , for example, the Boolean operator NEAR can be used. The search French NEAR Italians will retrieve documents containing the words French and Italians within 10 words of each other. Any documents with the two terms 11 words apart will not be returned. Remember, all search engines and directories have different searching techniques.