Conducting Boolean Searches

Authors & Contributors

You can use Boolean search terms in combination to create powerful and highly specific electronic searches. You can use OR to ensure that similar words, such as teaching and instruction, are included in your search. You can use AND to make sure that you are focusing on a particular topic, such as computer and writing rather than computers or writing. And you can use NOT to exclude topics that are not related to your research question, such as excluding musical composition when you are interested in written composition.

This demonstration begins with a simple search on the Google search site and then contrasts that search with a complex Boolean search on Google's advanced search page. Google is a leading Web Search Site, located on the Web at http://www.google.com. You can begin this demonstration by clicking on the Begin button. To restart the demonstration at any time, click on the Start Over button. To return to the main page of this demonstration, click on the Overview button.