How to Use Boolean Logic to Search the Internet Effectively

As the internet continues to expand and more and more pages are added, effective searching requires new approaches and strategies. Remember that the more specific your search, the more likely you will find what you want. To find relevant information, you must use a variety of tools and techniques. Here's how Boolean Searching to search the internet effectively.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. When you search for a topic on the Internet, you are not going from server to server and viewing documents on that server. Instead you are searching databases. Boolean searching is another way you can search databases. It consists of three operators:
   
   AND, NOT, OR

2. Say you want to try some new cookie recipes. You are interested in a relationship between cookies and recipes right? So you would search for "cookies AND recipes." The more terms you combine with AND, the fewer returns you will receive. If you want chocolate chip cookies without coconut would would search for "cookies AND recipes AND chocolate NOT coconut.

3. OR-is most commonly used to search for similar terms or concepts. For example, you search for "cookies AND recipes OR chocolate" to come up with results containing one term or the other or both. The more terms you combine with OR, the more results you will receive from your search.

4. Some search engines do not support Boolean logic, but most do provide a form that allows searching to be refined with filters or specific criteria with Advanced Search Options.

[stevemar2]

on 5/9/2009 This is a superb article that can help everyone.

[sonni57]

on 5/8/2009 Thanks for the time saving tips on searching the internet we can all use these.