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Health Informatics and Information Management

Resource Guide for the Health Informatics and Health Information Program

Boolean Search

 

You Know your Topic- Not What? Boolean Searching

Congratulations on selecting a research topic! Now it's time to search! There's heaps of information available and using these tips can help you find what you're looking for. Using these three phrases will help you be able widen or narrow your search. Databases are smart- when you capitalize AND, OR, NOT, they will know you are combining your terms into a Boolean Phrase!

 

 

    

Getting Started with the Search Process

When you have your topic and you pick out keywords, you're half the way there to begin your searching. Your keywords might be too specific or may only search half the literature. It's important to remember, everyone has a different way of phrasing the same thing.  To get around this it's important to think about some related keywords/alternatives/synonyms. Creating a chart is a great way to do this. Here's an example of what your chart could look like

 

Synonym Box

 

 

 

 

 

Here are some more tips and tricks when thinking about beginning your search

  • Try broader terms
  • Use synonyms
  • Look up indexed terms and/or identify from subject headings, hashtags, thesaurus, and more
  • Consider discipline terminology, nomenclature (system of names in a particular field)
  • Keep list of terms used in research you are using 
  • Combine terms and try different combinations of terms to get the best results

And remember - its a process, getting the info you want will not happen overnight! It can take multiple searches!

Boolean Searching and Advanced Techniques

AND Boolean

 

use the AND operator for combining research topics

glaucoma AND dry eye

more narrow, less results

OR Boolean

 

use the OR operator when the multiple keywords or synonyms

color vision OR Achromatopsia 

less narrow, more results

NOT Boolean

 

use the NOT operator to take out terms that are similar/the same meaning but are irrelevant to your topic

retinal surgery NOT pediatric

somewhat narrow, less results

Advanced Search Techniques

AND-OR Boolean Searching

 

use AND OR operators together to combine synonyms with multiple keywords/topics

glaucoma AND (secondary OR congenital)

 

 

 

AND NOT Boolean

 

use AND NOT operators to combine multiple keywords/topics while eliminating non-relevant search results

("optic nerve glioma" NOT children) AND recovery

 

 

 

NOT OR Boolean Terms

 

use NOT OR operators to combine multiple synonyms or keywords and remove non-relevant terms from your results

("oculofacial plastic" OR orbital OR "cosmetic facial rejuvenation") NOT "tear production"