How to Use Search Terms and Operators in Search

Search terms are used to specify what should be searched and operators are tools used to narrow the focus of your search.  

To refine your search using operators, i.e., Boolean Operators:

1. Enter your search term
2. Use AND, OR, and/or NOT to connect relevant keywords

Here is a breakdown on how to use the operators:

• • AND operator (e.g. cats AND dogs) - To find documents that contain both terms
  • OR operator (e.g. cats OR dogs) - To find documents that contain either term; they can contain both terms, but it's not necessary
  • AND NOT operator (e.g. cats AND NOT dogs) - To find documents that contain the first term and not the second term
  • Exact match (e.g. "guinea pig") - To find documents that contain this exact phrase; they can contain also partial matches, e.g. pig instead of guinea pig, but they need to contain the whole phrase.
  • Grouping of query terms (e.g. ((cats AND dogs)) AND NOT "guinea pigs") - Parentheses are useful when you want to build queries with more than one operator so that you can ensure they are correctly applied.

3. Press Enter

Insider Tips: 

• The maximum character count for every search term is 512
• Search using titles or keywords (rather than a mix) for best results