Electronic Search Strategies: Nesting

Electronic Search Strategies: Nesting

Combine parentheses with Boolean operators to control a search.

Parentheses can be used to specify the way in which terms in a Boolean expression should be grouped. The way you group your expressions within the search will determine the results you get back. This may help you find the specific information you are seeking and save you time so that you don't need to search through as many results, many of them irrelevant to your needs.

Use parentheses to clarify relationships between search terms.

(television OR mass media) AND women

will retrieve

"women" with either "television" or "mass media"

(automobile OR car) AND sales

will retrieve

all records that have the word "sales"

and also the word "automobile" or "car"

Note: the same effect would not necessarily result if the parenthesis are omitted. (Think about the order of operations in math.)