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Omni Search: General Boolean Search Tips

Search Basics

Use Boolean operators to obtain more focused search results.  

This video explains Searching with AND & OR

Boolean Logic

AND 

AND makes searches focussed. It connects distinct concepts and generates fewer results. AND must be capitalized in Omni.

women AND micro-finance AND India

 

AND must be capitalized in Omni.

Boolean Logic

OR

OR will make a search broader. It connects synonyms and generates more results.  OR must be capitalized in Omni.  If OR is used with AND, be sure to place all synonyms in brackets like so:  (Micro-credit OR micro-finance OR micro-loans) AND India AND women

 

OR must be capitalized in Omni.

Quotation Marks, Wildcards and Truncation

Quotation Marks

Keep words together when it is important by using quotation marks. This can apply to proper names, titles or to concepts. For example: 

  • "Robert F Kennedy"
  • United Nations 
  • climate change

Wildcard ? and Truncation *

To replace a single character in a word, use ?. For example, wom?n will give you:

  • woman 
  • women

To search variant endings of word, use *. For example, cultur* will search for:

  • culture
  • cultures
  • cultural
  • culturally
  • culturelle

Use the truncation symbol with caution. Depending on your topic, it may be better to use an OR.  For example culture OR cultures.

 

Creating a Search Strategy