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Searching Databases: Combining Search Terms

Tips to help you get the best results from your database searches.

Why Combine Search Terms?

Using a single search term often will result in either too many or too few search results, and may include items that aren't useful for the topic being searched. 

Combining multiple keywords or subject headings using the commands AND, OR, NOT can be an effective way to find materials that potentially are more closely related to the topic.

Scroll down this page to read about how AND, OR, NOT work.

OR

AND

NOT