Boolean Connectors (and, or, not)
Boolean operators or connectors can be used to improve your search results. When using either the simple or advanced search, you can use either AND, OR, or NOT. You can also group them together.
AND narrows a search. It is the default search method used in the simple search.
This search ... ... would find ... these results. lee and grant records with both of these words [View results of sample search] person* and narr* and confed* records with all three of these words and their variants [View results of sample search] OR broadens a search.
This search ... ... would find ... these results. lee or grant records with either or both these words [View results of sample search] person* or narr* or confed* records with any combination of these words or their variants [View results of sample search] NOT eliminates terms from a search.
This search ... ... would find ... these results. lee not grant records with lee that don't contain grant [View results of sample search]
You can also group search terms together to create more complex searches by using parentheses.
| This search ... | ... would find ... | these results. |
| home and women or female | records with welder and women or records with female | [View results of sample search] |
| home and (women or female) | records with welder and women or records with welder and female | [View results of sample search] |