COMMON SEARCH OPERATORS (May vary with Search Engines)

OPERATOR...	MEANS...	EXAMPLE...
AND or +	Both words must be present on the page	Baroque AND composer (both words must be on the page)+Baroque +composer (both words must be on the page)Baroque +composer (composer must be on the page)
OR	One or more words must be present on the page	Car OR auto (either “car” or “auto” must be on the page
AND NOT or +	Eliminates word following the operator	Cubs AND NOT Baseball (excludes pages with “baseball”Cubs—baseball (excludes pages with “baseball”
NEAR	Words must be near each other on the page	Global NEAR Warming(words are close to each other on the page)
NESTING	Combine parentheses with Boolean operators to control a search	(apples OR bananas) AND fruit will retrieve“fruit” with either apples or bananas
EXACT PHRASE SEARCHING “ “	Requires that the words within the quotes appear in exact order	“Bureau of Indian Affairs”(all words will be found in this exact order)
TRUNCATION OR WILDCARD	Terminal or End truncation - placing an * Asterisk at the end of a series of lettersInternal truncation—placing a # or ? In the middle of a word	Sing* (broadens search to include sings, singer, singing, and other words containing the letters, sing)Wom#n (broadens search to include woman and women)
CAPITAL LETTERS	Will decrease the number of hits when searching for a proper name	Tiger Woods (instead of tiger woods)