Montgomery College Libraries > Pat Semple, Librarian > EN109 Writing for Technology & Business, Prof. Malmi

A search expression that uses Boolean operators is one of the best ways to pinpoint information in a library catalog, database, or search engine. There are three components to Boolean search expressions:

• Keywords: tend to be the nouns that best describe a topic
• Boolean Operators: AND, OR, and NOT
• Punctuation: quotation marks for phrases, parentheses with OR

Here are some sample searches using keywords and Boolean operators:

"avian flu" OR "bird flu" OR "avian influenza"

"global warming" AND (oceans OR "marine life" OR coast)

(children OR youth) AND obesity

"chesapeake bay" AND pollution

(television OR tv) AND violence

iraq AND shiites AND sunnis

india AND "child labor"

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Find Book In Catalog: Go to the library's homepage, find the link for MC Library Catalog, and set "Select Search Type" to Keyword Boolean. Enter a short search expression; remember, books tend to be about broader topics:

careers AND nursing

careers AND (recreation OR sports)

careers AND music

music AND production

Set One Limit: Remember that one of your options is to limit your search to a particular campus, to the last five years, to e-books, to video (DVDs, VHS tapes), or to audio (CDs, cassette tapes).

Request Book From Another Campus: Go into MC Library Catalog and use the REQUEST ITEM button at the top of the page.
Renew Books Online: Go into MC Library Catalog and use the MY ACCOUNT button at the top of the page.
Help: Speak to the reference librarian on duty or call the reference desk: Germantown: 240-567-7853 Rockville: 240-567-7130 Takoma Park Silver Spring: 240-567-1536
AskUsNow!: For 24/7 help, IM an academic librarian at a college or university library by using Maryland's AskUsNow! service.

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Here are some databases that will be helpful:

Academic Search Premier

Enter your search expression and click Search button. You can sort your results list by Date or Relevance.

Expanded Academic ASAP

Note that the articles on your results list are seperated by type -- scholarly & academic journals, newspapers, magazines, and so forth.

Military & Government Collection

This collection does *not* serve as a mouthpiece for the military and the U.S. Government; rather, it presents articles on topics of interest to those in the military and the government. Some of them are from military publications and government reports, others are from Newsweek, Time, or National Geographic.

Business Source Premier

This collection features business publications.

Health Source: Nursing Academic Edition

A collection of academic journals related to the various fields of nursing.

National Newspapers

For opinion pieces, include the word "editorial" in your search expressions.

CQ Researcher

Enter one or two words in the Quick Search field -- the fewer, the better.

SIRS Knowledge Source

Scan the list of Leading Topics for something that matches your need, or change the radio button to Keyword/Natural Language and enter your search expression.

Examples of Boolean search expressions to use in databases. NOTE that the asterisk (*) serves as a truncation symbol in all of the databases; it will retrieve any form of the root you select:

technolog* AND (new OR emerg*) AND nursing

technolog* AND (new OR emerg*) AND (recreation OR sports)

technolog* AND (new OR emerg*) AND (music OR audio)

technolog* AND (new OR emerg*) AND aviation

technolog* AND (new OR emerg*) AND (environment* OR ecolog* OR pollut*)

technolog* AND (new OR emerg*) AND (automo* OR cars)

airbus OR (boeing AND new)

teleradiology

Results can be sorted by date or relevance. To print, use the button within the database.

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Here is a six-page MS Word document on formatting citations: APA Citations: The Reference List.

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