Boolean Operators

Use these to help broaden or narrow your search results in databases or library catalogs.

Boolean operators

-- named for British mathematician George Boole (1815 - 1864), the "operators" include:

AND (used between words to narrow a search and retrieve fewer documents)

poverty AND crime

OR (used between words to broaden a search and retrieve more documents)

college OR university

NOT (used between words to exclude a term)

cats NOT dogs