Commands Chart and Boolean Logic

**Database Commands Comparison**
Search Options	First Search, Galileo (WorldCat)	Cambridge Scientific, Advanced Search (NTIS, Aerospace, Metadex) CSA Illumina	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)	Quotes or brackets for exact phrase "sound system" with no truncation	"genetic testing"
Words in Set Proximity	freedom W2 press	(doppler radar) adjacency and order. WITHIN #	Quotes. " " Exact phrase. No truncation. {block and tackle} "block and tackle" {near earth objects}	"genetic testing" (use quotes)
Set Proximity, Any Order	ink N2 removal	(doppler) WITHIN 5 (radar) "micro electro mechanical" BEFORE AFTER NEAR = WITHIN 10 Use double quotes " " to search for "near", "before", or "after." au=Robinson, "GE"	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	nanotub* SAME carbon [SAME: All terms separated by the operator must appear in the same subfield]
Wild Cards	wom#n colo?r colo?1r after the 3rd character	* Truncation. behavi*r, wom?n, (carbon fib???). Three characters are required before truncation.	* Truncation. Comput* returns computerized. sorption returns adsorption. t??th finds tooth. hemoglobin finds haemoglobin.	* truncation ? any single character wo?an $ zero or one character
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 *	Comput* Truncation is asterisk (). Truncation & wild cards cannot* be used within " " quotation marks or braces or used with NEAR/# or ONEAR/#.	patent* Truncation is *

**Database Commands Comparison (Continued)**
Search Options	First Search, Galileo (WorldCat)	Cambridge Scientific, Advanced Search (NTIS, Aerospace, Metadex)	Inspec and Compendex (Ei Village)	Web of Science, General Search (Science Citation Index)
Plurals	wax+ mammal+ (for s or es)	patent*	Truncation is *. Automatically stemmed in Easy & Quick. In Expert, $management returns managing.	patent*
Words in Specific Fields	au:drucker, sh:rats, ti:polymers, de:(doppler n radar), su:(engineering) mh: (models w theoretical)	au=drucker, ti=(derivatives), de=(pollution and water), id=(engineer*) for selected databases	(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* SAME carbon) NOT (AU=Smalley R), TI=(engineer)
Specific Fields, Exactly	au= "clough wayne" (use Browse Index)	Browse by Author Index. Thesaurus browse hierarchical, alphabetical, or rotated index.	Browse by Author name (use "Expert" and note initials, first names, spaces & commas after surname). Broader, narrower & related thesaurus terms.
Searching Defaults	Assumes "and" between words	Assumes order and adjacency	and	and
Combine Searches & Alerts	"Previous Searches" and or not	"Combine Searches" (#1 and #2) and (optic* or electrooptic*). Alerts.	Alerts. "Search History" (#2 AND (microelectr* wn TI)) NOT #1	Alerts. "Combine Searches" (#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. TI=(bioeng* OR “biomedical engineering”)
5. DE=(bioeng* OR biomed*) OR ID=(bioeng* OR biomed*)
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, WITHIN 5, n2, w3,

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 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.