Effective Internet Search Techniques

Effective Search Techniques


Home Up Test Preparation Effective Internet Search Techniques Search Engines Web Page Creation & Posting Plagerism Issues Clipart/Images/Sounds Bulletin Board Ideas Worksheets Field Trips/Web Cams Videoconferencing Free Teaching Tools Reference Desks List Servs	A PRIMER IN BOOLEAN LOGIC The information below was summarized from the following website: http://library.albany.edu/internet/boolean.html The Internet is a vast computer database. As such, its contents must be searched according to the rules of computer database searching. Much database searching is based on the principles of Boolean logic. Boolean logic refers to the logical relationship among search terms, and is named for the British mathematician George Boole. Boolean logic consists of three logical operators: - OR - AND - NOT Each operator can be visually described by using Venn diagrams, as shown below. The use of OR: Looking at the example below, when OR is used as a connector, you will get the sites with the word "college" and "university" PLUS the sites with both "college" and "university" in them. Such searches result in many results. Search: "College OR University" The shaded areas represent the sites that would result in the search. The middle section represents the sites that contain both "college" and "university.

	The use of AND: Looking at the example below, when AND is used as a connector, you will get the sites only with "poverty" and "crime" in them. This is a more focused search, with fewer results. Search: "Poverty AND Crime" The shaded area in the center represents the sites that would result in the search. Only those sites with "poverty" AND "crime" would show up.

	3. The use of NOT: Looking at the example below, when NOT is used as a connector, you will get the sites that have "cats" only in them, excluding the sites that have "cats" and "dogs" in them. This results in a pure result, excluding topics you don't want to see. Search: "Cats NOT Dogs" The shaded area on the left represents the sites that would result in the search. Even though the overlap represents sites that deal with cats, you excluded those sites because they had topics about dogs too.

	These are summarized notes on Boolean Logic. For a more detailed explanation, refer to the following website: http://library.albany.edu/internet/boolean.html
	ADDITIONAL HINTS To search using a phrase: "Tulsa Public Schools" (use quotes) This will result in sites with that phrase in them. To search for sites with specific words in them: Tulsa+Vocal+Music (use plus signs) This will results in sites that have those 3 words in them. The words won't necessarily be together in a phrase. <top>

Tulsa Public Schools
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Last Updated 07/26/2006

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