8 Individuals and Societies: Search Strategies

AND

• will find the words together to narrow your results
• tells the database that ALL search terms must be included in the results
• example: cloning AND humans AND ethics => a result about all three topics

OR

• connects two or more similar concepts 
• broadens your results, telling the database that ANY of your search terms can be present in the resulting records
• example: cloning OR genetics OR reproduction => Results can have 1, 2, or all of the words

NOT

• excludes words you have identified as not helpful 
• example: cloning NOT sheep => Gives results the limit a word, in this case "Sheep" should not appear

   How to Search!

Identify Key Words

• Write out questions
• Circle necessary words
• Anticipate words in the answer
• Use synonyms (words that have the same meaning) to get more results

Use Boolean Operators to narrow or broaden your search

• OR gives more results
• AND gives fewer results
• NOT cuts out specific words or phrases

Use quotation marks to keep exact phrases together

• Example: "Florida Marlins" will give results about the baseball team, not the fish or the US state

Build a search string with Boolify - a puzzle-style google search!

• Practice various search strategies & build "Search Strings" with Boolify.
• Drag limiters onto the board, add a search term, and click anywhere on the board.
• Watch the Keyboard Shortcuts results space below to see the codes Google uses to command its search engine to do what YOU want.