Precision Searching

Tips for Common Search Tools

AND: default (alternatively: term AND term)
OR: term OR term
NOT: term NOT term
Exact Phrase: “exact phrase search”
Grouping: term AND (term OR term)

Bing

AND: default
OR: term OR term
NOT: term NOT term
Exact Phrase: “exact phrase search”
Grouping: Not available

Google

AND: default
OR: term OR term
NOT: term -term (example: animal -cat)
Exact Phrase: “exact phrase search”
Grouping: term AND (term OR term)

WorldCat

AND: term AND term
OR: term OR term
NOT: term NOT term
Exact Phrase: “exact phrase search”
Grouping: term AND (term OR term)

Startpage.com

AND: term AND term
OR: term OR term
NOT: term NOT term
Exact Phrase: “exact phrase search”
Grouping: term AND (term OR term)

Check Your Knowledge: Boolean Operators

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License

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Critical Thinking in Academic Research - Second Edition Copyright © 2022 by Cindy Gruwell and Robin Ewing is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

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