• Boolean operators connect your search words together to either narrow or broaden your set of results.
• The three basic boolean operators are: AND, OR, and NOT
• Boolean Operators help focus a search, particularly when your topic contains multiple search terms.

Using AND 

• Use AND in a search to:

  • narrow your results
  • tell the database that ALL search terms must be present in the resulting records
  • example: "project learning" AND "STEM education"

• Though all your search terms are included in the results, they may not be connected together in the way you want.

  • For example, this search:  college students test anxiety  is translated to:  college AND students AND test AND anxiety. The words may appear individually throughout the resulting records.

    You can search using phrases to make your results more specific.

    For example:  "college students" AND "test anxiety". This way, the phrases show up in the results as you expect them to be.

Using OR

• Use OR in a search to:

  • connect two or more similar concepts (synonyms)
  • broaden your results, telling the database that ANY of your search terms can be present in the resulting records
  • example: "Design-Based Learning" OR "project based learning" OR "Hands-On Learning" OR "Collaborative Learning"

Using NOT 

• Use NOT in a search to:

  • exclude words from your search
  • narrow your search, telling the database to ignore concepts that may be implied by your search terms
  • example: "project based learning" NOT "Lecture-Based Learning"

Why Use Keywords Instead of Full Sentences?

When searching in library databases, keywords are much more effective than full sentences. Databases are not like Google—they don’t understand questions or natural language very well. Instead, they search for specific terms in article titles, abstracts, and subject headings.

For example:

Research question: “How does social media affect college students’ mental health?”
Keywords for searching: social media AND college students AND mental health

Using clear keywords helps you find more relevant and academic results quickly.

How to Create Keywords from a Research Question

1. Write your research question.
   → What are the effects of stress on high school teachers?

2. Pick out the main concepts.
   → stress, high school teachers

3. Think of synonyms or related terms for each.

   • stress: burnout, anxiety, emotional exhaustion

   • high school teachers: secondary educators, high school faculty

4. Use combinations with AND/OR in your search.
   → (stress OR burnout) AND (high school teachers OR secondary educators)

This strategy broadens your search while still keeping it focused.

Pro Tips

• Use quotation marks for phrases: "high school teachers" 

  • Quotation marks act like a "glue" to keep the phrase together in the search. If you don't use quotation marks, the words will be searched but not together in that specific order 

• Use truncation to catch word variations: educat* finds educator, educators, education

• Use AND to connect different ideas

• Use OR to connect synonyms or related terms