History and Usage

• Created by George Boole mid-1800's

• Used to combine search terms for research

• Used to connect logical statements in math

• Used to create logic statements in computer science/programming.

• In CS and programming, results in one of two values: true or false.

Boolean Operators

• AND

• OR

• NOT

• Other Boolean operators are less common

• For example, XOR uses only one or the other, but not both

AND

• AND is used to narrow down searches.

• Results contain all of the used search terms.

OR

• OR is used to enhance search terms by connecting two terms-usually synonyms or closely related terms.

• Results contain either of the used search terms.

NOT

• NOT is used to refine search results by eliminating specific variations.

• Results do not include excluded unwanted information.

XOR

• XOR is used to limit search results by narrowing the search criteria.

• Results will include information with one of the terms or the other, but not both.

Quotation Marks

• Used around a phrase that needs to be returned in that exact order

Combinations

• Terms may be used together.

• What would be the results of this search?

Combinations

• OR terms should be joined by parentheses so the terms are combined first, just like math.

• What would be the results of this search?

Combinations

• Another example of multiple operators

• What would be the results of this search?

Combinations

• What about three?

• What would be the results of this search?

Other Fun Facts

• The next several slides include questions about Boolean operators.

• Ready?

• Use "quotation marks," to return results with only that exact phrase

• You may use the - sign in place of NOT

• You may use the + sign in place of AND, but AND will be assumed by search engines if you don't include the word or the sign.