Commands Chart and Boolean Logic

**Database Commands Comparison** http://www.prism.gatech.edu/~bw21/chart.htm
Search Options	First Search, Galileo (WorldCat)	ProQuest (NTIS, Aerospace, Materials Resarch, ProQuest Dissertations, GeoRef)	Inspec and Compendex (Ei Village)	Web of Science, General Search (Science Citation Index)
Operators	and or not	and or not	and or not	and or not
Adjacent Words	sound W system	"sound system" (quotations)	Quotes or brackets for exact phrase "sound system" with no truncation	"genetic testing" Use of quotation marks ("_") disables lemmatization of terms
Words in Set Proximity	freedom W2 press	(("micro electro") near/1 mechanical) or ("microelectromechanical")	Quotes. "_" Exact phrase. No truncation. {block and tackle} "block and tackle" {near earth objects}	phrase searching, exact phrase, enter phrase in quotation marks "_"
Set Proximity, Any Order	ink N2 removal	near/n -- two search terms, in any order, within "n" number of words apart. (nursing NEAR/3 education) -- 3 means within 3 words. (radar or antenna*) near/2 (infrared). pre/n -- one search term that appears within "n" number of words before a second term. nursing PRE/4 education -- first term precedes the second term by 4 or fewer words.	The NEAR/# and ONEAR/# commands do not work with truncation, wildcards, parenthesis, quotes or braces. Within 0-x terms in any order: laser NEAR/4 diode. Within 0-x terms and in the order entered: laser ONEAR/5 diode. NEAR = NEAR/4	near/x operator. Terms occur within a specified number of words within the same field. If no number is specified, the system defaults to 15. canine NEAR/10 virus SAME is used only in the address field.Terms must occur within the same address yale SAME hosp
Wild Cards	wom#n colo?r after the 3rd character	Truncation is * asterisk. nurse* color finds colour color; engineer* (use left-hand * sparingly); ? for a single character; two ?? - exactly two characters; three ??? - exactly three characters; wom?n finds woman ? women; fib?? finds fiber or fibre.	Truncation is asterisk . Comput returns computerized. sorption returns adsorption. t??th finds tooth. hemoglobin finds haemoglobin.	Truncation is asterisk * (zero or more characters, carbon) (left hand might not work); $ (zero or one character, colo$r; ? (one character only, en?oblast)
Alternate Endings	psychi* (limit of 50 index entries). Use + for plurals. Do not use * (modeling or modelling or model+ or modeled or modelled)	patent* Truncation is asterisk *	Truncation is asterisk () comput ; Truncation and wild cards cannot be used within "_" quotation marks or braces or used with NEAR/# or ONEAR/#.	patent* Truncation is * asterisk

**Database Commands Comparison (Continued)**
Search Options	First Search, Galileo (WorldCat)	ProQuest (NTIS, Aerospace, Materials, ProQuest Dissertations, GeoRef)	Inspec and Compendex (Ei Village)	Web of Science, General Search (Science Citation Index)
Plurals	wax+ mammal+ (for s or es)	patent* Truncation is asterisk *	Truncation is * asterisk. Automatically stemmed in "Quick Search." Stemming off is default in "Expert Search" $management returns managing.	patent* Truncation is asterisk *
Words in Specific Fields	au:drucker, sh:rats, ti:polymers, de:(doppler n radar), su:(engineering) mh: (models w theoretical)	TI(cryptolog* and VLSI) and AU(sherman) SU(thesaurus descriptor) AU(author) AB(abstract) YR(2005-2009) Warning: IF(keywords/identifiers; may not limit correctly)	(seatbelts OR ("seat belts")) wn TI. Controlled terms and Uncontrolled terms can be different for each database. Publication year coverage for controlled terms can differ.	TS=(nanotub* near/5 carbon) NOT (AU=Smalley R); TI=(engineer); AD=((georgia or GA) SAME tech*)
Specific Fields, Exactly	au= "clough wayne" (use Browse Index)	Browse differs by database. Thesaurus (subject). Thesaurus browse -- Broader Terms, Related Terms. "Look up Subjects" "Look up Authors" su.exact("higher education")	Browse by Author name (use "Expert" and note initials, first names, spaces, commas, etc. after surname). Broader, narrower, related thesaurus terms.	Browse by first cited author's name to find variants (author index icon). Browse publication name
Searching Defaults	Assumes "and" between words	and	and	and
Combine Searches; Alerts	"Previous Searches" and or not	Advanced - "Recent searches" - "Combined searches" (1 and 2) and (optic* or electrooptic*). Alerts, My Research.	Alerts. "Search History" (#2 AND (microelectr* wn TI)) NOT #1	Alerts. Search History or Advanced Search. "Combine Sets" (#2 AND #3) NOT #1

Search Example:

1. model* OR simulat* OR algorithm*
2. bioengineer* OR biotech* OR ((biolog* or biomed*) and engineer*)
3. micromechan* OR nanoelectr* or (micro mechan*) or (nano electr*)
4. (bioeng* OR ("biomedical engineering")) wn TI
5. ((bioeng* OR biomed*) wn CV) or ((bioeng* OR biomed*) wn FL)
6. (1 and 2 and 3) or ((4 or 5) and 3)

(A1 or A2) AND (B1 or B2)
"OR" Boolean operator: "A1 or A2" - - Keywords/phrases -- at least one of them must be in the record

(Click on above box)

Narrow and Broaden Search Strategy

If you retrieve too many records, narrow your search by

Creating an additional set (A1 or A2) AND (B1 or B2) AND (C1 or C2)
Restricting keywords to

Title Field, using title field codes such as TI=, wn TI, TI:
Subject Headings (Thesaurus and Identifier Fields), such as Controlled Terms, Uncontrolled Terms, wn CV, wn FL, DE=, SU=, ID=, MH:, TI:

Use of Proximity Operators for adjacency, same field, within the same subfield, phrase searching, etc., such as quotes " ", SAME, NEAR/x, n2, w3, etc.

If you retrieve too few records

Check for similar concepts in the title, abstract and subject heading fields (synonyms, etc.)
Look for concepts which have equal importance (A1 or A2) AND (B1 or B2 or D1 or D2)

Spell out acronyms and abbreviations.
Include alternative spellings such as modeled or modelling, fiber or fibre (British and American)
Ask for help with author names (spaces commas and format/variant differences).
Check for truncation symbols (* ? +) and proximity operators
Check for the ability to manipulate previous search statements or search history, such as (#7 or (#8 and engineer*)) not #6. Some systems allow combinations of search statement numbers and keywords.
To broaden a search, combine terms using OR (results contain any specified term). To narrow the scope of a search, combine terms using AND (results contain all specified terms). To eliminate previous search statement numbers from a search, use the NOT operator. You can use parentheses to specify the order of operation. Terms and operations within the parenthesis are executed before terms and operations outside the parenthesis.
Watch for truncation overflows.