A Boolean Operator is a word that communicates search functions. AND, OR, and NOT are the Boolean operators used in searching databases to combine terms and search more efficiently.

AND = Results contain BOTH terms.
OR = Results contain EITHER term.
NOT = Results have the first term(s), but not the term following NOT.

Use keywords that describe your topic or descriptive terms from your thesis statement. For primary source documents, such as a study or report, include those terms in the search.

Examples:
( Note: MH=medical subject heading)

• caffeine AND Parkinson's disease
• caffeine AND Parkinson's disease AND study
• MH "Parkinson Disease" AND caffeine AND study
• caffeine AND Parkinson's disease AND study

When you find an article in a bibliography or reference list and want to locate the full text, use EagleSearch or Journal Finder+.

If you know the article title, search it in EagleSearch. Or, try a keyword search for the journal name, article title, subjects, author(s), and/or other information you know.

If you have the journal name and date of publication, use Journal Finder+ to search the journal title, then follow the links to the issue and date you need.

If you have the journal name and the topic, use Journal Finder+ to search the journal title, then "search all issues" of the journal with key terms that describe the topic