The most commonly used operators are: AND, OR, and NOT. When used in all caps, search engines (Library Search, databases, and Google) recognize them as a specific function. These are best described by using Venn diagrams.
Click the tabs at the top of this box to learn more about each operator.
If you are researching something with a name that varies depending on the context, you can use OR to make sure the system is searching all possible versions of that term. For example, some information on post-secondary education uses the term "university" while others use "higher education." If you want both, use OR to combine your terms.
Note: This is the default operator search engines use to combine your search terms. That's why some results will only have one of your search terms unless you specify otherwise.
If you are researching how nutrition information is shared on social media, use AND to make sure you only receive results with both terms in the item record.
If you are searching with a term that is part of a larger term not relevant to your research or that term is also used in a different field, you may need to use NOT to remove results. For example, if you are searching for the portrayal of the traditional concept of witches (crone, pointy hat, flies on a broom with a black cat) in the media and use the term "witch," you may receive results about The Witcher, a book, video game, and Netflix series. To remove these results, use NOT.
To use NOT in Google searches, use - (minus sign).
Though some Advanced Search features of search engines allow you to have multiple search boxes with drop-down menus for Boolean Operators, you can use multiple operators in single line searches.
( ) Just like in math, parentheses are their own groupings. This part of the search is done before it is combined with any other part of the search.
" " Quotation marks make sure that two or more words are in that exact order or are found with that exact spelling.
* An asterisk functions as truncation. It can be used to find words with multiple endings. For example, teach* will search for teach, teacher, teachers, teaches, and teaching.
? A question mark functions as a wildcard. It can be used to find words where only one letter is changed. For example, wom?n will search for women, woman, womyn, and womxn. Another example is Latin? will search for Latina, Latino, Latinx, and Latine.
Both of the searches above will function the same even though they are written differently.
Information comes in many different forms. What are some categories or types of voices where you can find information?
In academic research, we tend to only emphasize academic voices while there are many other voices in different formats that can be used in a scholarly context.
Here is an example of a Research Honeycomb for LGBTQIA2S+ topics. Remember to consider sources for your topic from all arguments. If you find a source against your argument, use it to understand that viewpoint and create a counterargument.
Topic: What is being researched.
Academic Voices: What we typically think of in academic research. Books, journal articles, conference presentations, etc.
News Media: International, national, local, regional, or topic-based news sources.
Community Voices: The voices of those who are being researched. Social media, blogs, YouTube, etc.
Association and Organization Reports: Information created by non-government organizations.
Government Reports: Information created by government organizations/agencies.
Stakeholders and Allies: Information by those who are not directly related to your topic but may be indirectly related socially, financially, regionally, etc.