4-Precision Searching
4. Search Statements
At this point in your search process, you are moving from merely identifying main concepts and similar search terms to developing more complicated search statements that can do more precise searching.
Use Quotation Marks for Phrases
Put quotation marks around any phrases among your terms so that the phrase is what’s searched for, rather than the separate words. “Common cold” instead of common cold is a good example. Without those quotation marks, just think how many sources Google or other search tools would waste their/your time on things that have nothing to do with our sniffles.
Use Wildcard and Truncation Symbols to Broaden
Consider whether using wild card or truncating symbols would help find variations of a word. For instance, the wildcard symbol in wom?n finds both woman and women, and the truncating symbol in mathematic* finds mathematics, mathematically, mathematician, etc.
Consider AND, OR, NOT
You can often do more precise searching by combining search terms by using the words AND, OR, and NOT. These are known as Boolean Operators. Generally, using these operators narrows your search, making it more precise.
subsets of sources.
AND – If the main idea contains two or more ideas, you’ll want to use AND to combine those terms in your search statement. To look for information about spiders as signs of climate change, you’ll want to have both terms in the search and perform an AND search. That’s what automatically happens in search engines such as Google and Bing unless you tell them to do something different by using OR,NOT, or-.
OR – If the main idea has several synonyms, use OR to combine them. Most search tools search for all terms (AND) by default, so you need to use the operator OR between terms to let them know you want to find any of the terms not documents with all the terms. For instance, in the previous example of Latino small business growth, we would want to also use the term Hispanic.
NOT – If the main idea has a common use you want to exclude, use NOT to exclude that word. For example, if we were looking for information about illegal drug use we would want to exclude prescription drugs from the search results. This is commonly done with NOT or the use of the minus (-) sign. In Google, to exclude a word use-word with no space between the – and the word you want to exclude. If you put a space in there, Google will not exclude the word.(When using some search tools, you have to use AND NOT before the word to exclude it.)
Using Parentheses with Multiple Operators
When a search statement requires the Boolean operators OR or NOT (or their symbols) with one another or with AND, you must use parentheses to group the appropriate terms. The parentheses make their contents a single unit, no matter how many terms are there.
The reason parentheses are necessary in searching is that search tools, including Google and Bing, generally perform their operations from the left to right of a search statement. If you are mixing Boolean operators, the way to make sure that the search is done as a whole statement requires that you use parentheses to combine the sets in your statement.
Using parentheses may remind you of the mathematical statements written in math courses.
A correct example:
(saddles OR bridles) AND equestrian
The parenthesis is necessary because you’re mixing OR with the AND that Google and Bing will automatically put in, even if you don’t. In this search, Google or Bing will first find documents that contain either the word saddles or the word bridles. Then Google or Bing will search those documents for the word equestrian and give you those documents as your search results.
An incorrect example:
(saddles OR bridles) AND (equestrian).
The second parenthesis is unnecessary because there’s no mixing of operators after the AND. Parentheses should never contain a single term in a search statement.
Another correct example:
(cats OR dogs) AND (treatment OR therapy).
Notice the mixed multiple Boolean operators (OR, AND, OR)? They make the two parentheses necessary.
Compare that with this incorrect example:
(cats OR dogs) AND (treatment AND therapy)
Activity: Search Analysis
Practice with Search
Take some time to practice searching precisely – start by identifying main concepts, then listing related and alternative terms (with the help of wildcard and truncation symbols), and finally constructing search statements.
Activity: Search Practice
This activity focuses on the research question “How does a person’s diet affect the risk for getting cancer?” Work through the three activities below.
Search Terms
Truncation
Search Statements
Activity: More Search Practice
This activity focuses on the research question “What is the effect of gamma radiation on crops?” Work through the three activities below.
More Search Terms
More Truncation
More Search Statements
