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A Guide to Urban Studies: Boolean Searching

This Research Guide contains resources supporting students, faculty, and staff of the Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs.

BOOLEAN SEARCHING

Logic used in online searching
Use Boolean operators to combine search terms in library catalogs, research databases, and search engines
The most common Boolean operators are: AND, OR, NOT

Boolean Operator: AND

AND

Use AND to connect your main search terms

AND limits results by requiring all terms to be present; fewer items are retrieved

Examples:

casinos AND economic development

crime AND poverty

planning AND transportation

Boolean Operator: OR

OR	Use OR to connect synonyms or related terms OR expands results since only one of your search terms needs to be present; more items are retrieved Examples: death penalty OR capital punishment funding OR financing sustainable OR sustainability

Boolean Operator: NOT

NOT

Use NOT to exclude a term; fewer items are retrieved

Examples:

government NOT federal

pollution NOT water

poverty NOT United States

NESTING

Try NESTING your search terms by using both AND & OR:

Examples:

public administration

AND

(ethics OR ethical)

sports

AND

(economy OR economic)

Subject Guide

Diane Kolosionek

Email Me

Contact:

Diane Kolosionek
Head, Research & Liaison Services
Michael Schwartz Library, RT 110C
Cleveland State University
2121 Euclid Avenue
Cleveland, Ohio 44115
(216) 802-3358