Connectors (Boolean Operators)
- AND: to connect terms that may be anywhere in a document.
- OR: to find synonyms, alternative phrases
- NOT: to omit specific word(s) in search phrase
Proximity
- to find terms that are in the same sentence
- to find terms in the same paragraph
- to find terms within "n" number of words of each other.
- Proximity symbols vary across databases. They commonly include a slash (/). See specific database links below.
Truncation
- Use to retrieve singular/plural forms or variant endings of terms
- Truncation symbols vary across databases. Most common is either the asterisk (*) or exclamation point (!). See specific database links below.
