How to Search The Electronic Databases


Electronic Databases are usually searched using boolean logic operators. The following table shows some frequently used operators.

Operator Example Description
"AND" 'jaundice' AND 'fruits' Retrieves all documents that have both 'jaundice' and 'fruits' in them. Does not retrieve articles that have either 'jaundice' or 'fruits' but not both. Narrows down search.
"OR" 'jaundice' OR 'fruits' Retrieves all documents that have either 'jaundice' or 'fruits' or both of the terms in them. Includes all the terms. Widens Search.
"NOT" 'jaundice' NOT 'fruits' Retrieves all documents that contain the word 'jaundice' but not the word 'fruits'. 
"$" 'fruit$' Retrieves all documents that contain words like 'fruity', 'fruits', etc in addition to all documents that contain the word 'fruit'

The following documents discuss search strategies in greater depth:



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