Boolean Operators are words used to combine or exclude keywords in a search. Using Boolean operators, you are able to focus your search on the results that will be most helpful. Google also has a few additional operators that work to refine results.
Below are common Boolean operators that work when searching within Google and Google Scholar, as well as an example of each.
| Boolean (& Other) Operators |
Example |
|
AND
Limit results
|
Veganism AND obesity
(Search for content that contains both veganism and obesity.)
|
|
OR
One term OR another
|
Scholarly OR academic
(Search for content that contains scholarly OR academic.)
|
|
“ “
Exact phrase
|
“sleep deprivation”
(Search for the phrase sleep deprivation.)
|
|
|
|
~
Synonyms of term
|
~academic
(Search for the term academic and its synonyms.)
|
|
-
Exclude a term from the search
|
Bears -Chicago
(Limits results to only those with bears and not the term Chicago.)
|
From Southern Adventist University's LibGuide: https://southern.libguides.com/google/boolean
Want even more search tips? Visit Google's support page!
