LSU Libraries - Searching Techniques and Strategies Tutorial

CONTENTS:

Introduction
Generating Search Terms
Boolean Searching
Combining Terms
Truncation
Field Searching

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Boolean Searching - OR

OR is, in some ways, the exact opposite of AND. Instead of narrowing a search, OR widens it by turning up records that have either term you specify.

For instance, a search on dog or cat will get you all the records that contain the word "dog", as well as all the ones that contain the word "cat".

Although at first glance this may not seem very useful, it can come in very handy in certain situations. For instance, a search on "dog" will only get you records that have the word "dog", not "dogs", "canines" or "canis domesticus", all of which are terms used for "dog." So if you wanted all the possible records that might be about dogs, you could try dog or dogs or canines or canis domesticus.

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