IME 777 - Graduate Research Seminar

When you connect your search terms with the words "AND" or "OR" you are asking the database to combine your search terms in specific ways to narrow or broaden your search. These words are called Boolean Operators

AND focuses or narrows a search. 

If you want to answer the question "What is the impact of advertising on smoking in adolescents?" you can combine all of your keywords with "and."

Smoking and adolescents and advertising will return results have all three keywords in the article. 

OR  broadens or expands a search to find all the words connected with "or." Remember that a keyword search only looks for the word you enter. OR lets you put in all possible keywords that might mean the same thing.

teenagers or adolescents finds all the articles that have either word in them. 

girls or women or female

cell phone or smart phone

bulimia or eating disorder