Using Boolean search

Boolean search lets you look for combinations of up to three terms or phrases using Boolean connector terms (i.e., AND, OR, NOT).

Fig. 6: The Boolean search query form.

To use the boolean form ...

1. Use the pulldown "Search in" menu to select an area of the text to search within.


2. Enter a term or phrase in the first text box. Multiple words in a single box will be treated as a literal string, not separately in an "any word" or "all words" sense. Use an asterisk with a word stem to find variations on the word (e.g., searching for civ* will match civ, civil, civic, and civilian.). All other punctuation will be ignored. See searching tips.


3. If you enter a term or phrase in the second text box, select a boolean operator after the first text box to determine the relationship between the first term and the second.
   
   Examples:

   Ballard in the first box, hotel in the second box, and the and operator between would look for all instances of ballard and hotel in the specified region.
   
   Ballard in the first box, hotel in the second box, and the or operator between would look for all instances of ballard or hotel in the specified region.
   
   Ballard in the first box, hotel in the second box, and the not operator between would look for all instances of ballard that occur without hotel occurring in the specified region.
   

4. If you enter a term or phrase in the third text box, select a boolean operator after the second text box to determine the relationship between the second term and the third.
   
   Please note: If you enter terms in all three boxes, the search query will evaluate the boolean relationship between terms 1 and 2 first, and then evaluate the last term.
   
   For example, the organization name search:
   

   Richmond in the first box, followed by the and operator
   
   railroad in the second box followed by the not operator
   
   Petersburg in the last box

   will be evaluated as:
   

   ( richmond and railroad ) not petersburg

   and will return results such as:
   

   "Richmond and Danville Railroad"

   but not:
   

   "Richmond and Petersburg Railroad"

5. Click the "search" button to submit the query.