Search Techniques
Connectors, or Boolean Operators, are words that combine concepts together in a search. These operators allow you to keep your search ("AND"); keep your search broad ("OR); or exclude words from your search.
EXAMPLES:
- Corporate social responsibility AND consumers= This will give you results that includes both corporate social responsibility and consumers.
- Corporate social responsibility OR consumers=This will give you results that includes all the words.
- Corporate social responsibility AND consumers NOT Men=This will give you results that include Corporate social responsibility and consumers but excludes men.
Quotations can be especially useful if you are searching for a phrase. This can also be useful if you are searching an exact match for a title of an article or book. If you don't use quotations the system (internet or library database) will look for each word individually.
EXAMPLES:
- "corporate social responsibility" (phrase search)
- "Corporate social responsibility: Three key approaches" (Title of an article)
This technique is using the root or stem of a word and the search will bring back a variety of endings to the word.
EXAMPLES:
rac*= race, races, racism, racial, racialized
educat*=educate, education, educated, educating
sustain*=sustain, sustains, sustainable, sustainability