Developing your Search - HART 2781 - Los Angeles Architecture and Urbanism - Chesney

Boolean Operators

Librarian

Stephanie Morgan

she/her/hers

Email Me

Contact:

Central Library, 800FD

615-343-7631

Subjects: Art, French, Italian

Building a Search String

To effectively use the library search, we will have to turn your research question into a search string. Most library, archive, and database searches do not work like a normal search engine -- typing out your research question as a full sentence will not work! On this page we will go through how you can use keywords, boolean operators, and filters to craft the best possible search.

Keyword Searching → Subject Searching

Take your research question and convert the most important topics and ideas into keywords and phrases.
- Notice that phrases are in quotations. Make sure to consider alternate spellings (ex. color vs. colour).

Research Question	Potential Keywords
How did the Civil Rights Movement impact the use and perception of public spaces in Nashville?	"Civil Rights Movement", "civil rights", "racial justice" "freedom rides", "student movements", "youth activism", sit-ins, demonstrations, protests Nashville, Tennessee, "southern cities"

Boolean Operators

AND	OR	NOT
Generates results that contain both of your search terms. ex. Nashville AND "Civil Rights Movement" Results will only show materials that contain the Nashville and Civil Rights Movement. This can be used to specify terms that are critical to your research topic, such as limiting your search to a certain geographical region or discipline area. AND is used to narrow your search & generates fewer, more specific results.	Generates results that contain one, or both, of your search terms. ex. sit-ins OR demonstrations Results will show materials that contain either sit-ins or demonstrations. This can be used for geographical locations or topics that may not have a standardized name, such as "United States" OR u.s. OR America OR "United States of America" OR is used to broaden your search & generates greater, less specific results.	Generates results that do not contain one of your search terms. ex. "Civil Rights Movement" NOT "youth activism" Results will show materials that contain Civil Rights Movement but do not mention youth activism. This can be used to exclude materials that may pertain to your subject, but are related to a region, discipline, or topic that you are not trying to study. NOT is used to narrow your search & generates less results. BE CAREFUL. Sometimes NOT can exclude relevant results.

AND

OR

NOT

Generates results that contain both of your search terms.

ex. Nashville AND "Civil Rights Movement"

Results will only show materials that contain the Nashville and Civil Rights Movement. This can be used to specify terms that are critical to your research topic, such as limiting your search to a certain geographical region or discipline area.

AND is used to narrow your search & generates fewer, more specific results.

Generates results that contain one, or both, of your search terms.

ex. sit-ins OR demonstrations

Results will show materials that contain either sit-ins or demonstrations. This can be used for geographical locations or topics that may not have a standardized name, such as "United States" OR u.s. OR America OR "United States of America"

OR is used to broaden your search & generates greater, less specific results.

Generates results that do not contain one of your search terms.

ex. "Civil Rights Movement" NOT "youth activism"

Results will show materials that contain Civil Rights Movement but do not mention youth activism. This can be used to exclude materials that may pertain to your subject, but are related to a region, discipline, or topic that you are not trying to study.

NOT is used to narrow your search & generates less results. BE CAREFUL. Sometimes NOT can exclude relevant results.

Crafting your Search

After figuring out your search terms, you can combine them with boolean operators to create an initial search string.
- (Nashville OR Tennessee) AND ("Civil Rights Movement" OR "civil rights") AND (sit-ins OR demonstrations OR "freedom rides")

Convert to Subject Searching

Use one of the item records from your keyword search to find the subject headings.
- Replace your keywords with the applicable subject headings. Or, you can click on the link and all materials with that subject heading will appear.

Additional Pro Tips

You may notice that some database searches will try to autofill your keywords based off of their subject/topic tags. Try out their suggestions. The terms they give you may result in different search results -- sometimes they work better than the search terms you developed on your own.
You can put an asterisk to include any number of characters after a root word. ex. educat* will include educate, education, educator, etc. as part of the search. However, keep in mind the * will include any phrase afterwards, so it may include things that are not related to your topic.