Boolean Operators

Boolean operators allow you to make your searches more precise by establishing a relationship between your search terms. The three operators are AND, OR, and NOT.

AND: Additional Required Terms

AND narrows your search by limiting results to only items that include both search terms. Any result that does not include both terms will be excluded. If any of your search terms are multi-word phrases, make sure you enclose them in quotation marks so that OneSearch will search for those words together in that order rather than as individual words.

Example:

• leadership AND "communication style"

OR: Terms as Synonyms or Variables

OR expands your search by pulling in all results that include one or both search terms.

If there are several related terms you would like to include, you can enclose a series of terms linked by OR inside parentheses.

Example:

• ("higher education" OR university OR college)

NOT: Excluding Irrelevant Results

NOT narrows your search by removing any results that include the unwanted term.

Example:

• geologic depression NOT "mental health"

Combining Boolean Operators

Several Boolean operators can be combined within the same search. However, OneSearch will process AND before OR or NOT. Enclosing a series of terms inside parentheses will tell OneSearch to treat those terms as a group.

Examples:

• (birds OR bats) AND ("light pollution" OR "artificial light")
• "screen time" AND "mental health" NOT (children OR adolescents OR youth)