Boolean Training

George Boole was an English mathematician
who invented a branch of mathematics called
“Boolean Algebra”.
A Boolean consists of operators such as
The result of the expressions are in the value of either
TRUE or FALSE.
What is Boolean?

Command Description Syntax Rules
AND Requires both char strings on webpage james AND smith Uppercase AND
OR Requires either (or both) char string on webpage james OR smith Uppercase OR
“ “ Requires all the char’s in that order “james smith”
- (NOT) Exclude pages with these char’s -new york No space after oper
~ Find webpages with Google’s list of “synonyms” ~genealogy No space after oper
* Finds strings with any word betw two terms “james * smith” Requires quotes
+ Preempts stemming tom hill +died + same as “died”
numrange Defines start & end point of a numeric range 1782..1804 No spaces, two dots
AROUND() Limits # words found between 2 search terms faith AROUND(2) baker Uppercase
site: Search or exclude specific site -site:www.census.ca
filetype: Limit search to a specific filetype anna day filetype:pdf ext: is exactly same
intext: Limit search to Keywords in body of webpage intext:”tom hill” essex
intitle: Limit search to Keywords only in webpage title intitle: “dufresne family”
related: Returns sites related to a target site related:www.smith.org (also try similar:)
Google Search Operators & Commands

Phrase searching
Phrase searching is used to retrieve a string of words (instead
of a single word).
Look at the following example:
You might be looking for information on teenage abortions. Each of these
words, when standing alone, has a different meaning and will retrieve
irrelevant documents, but when you put them together the meaning changes
to the precise concept of "teenage abortions". For the database to understand
your search, you should put your phrase in inverted commas. Type your search
as follows: "teenage abortions"
Additional Search Techniques

Truncation:
Use an asterisk (*) to stand for any character or string of
characters.
This is a great strategy to use if you want to find multiple
spellings or word endings.
Example:
Child* (searches for child, children, childhood, etc.)
Terror* (searches for terror, terrorist, terrorism)
Additional Search Techniques

 Google's spell checker automatically defaults to the most
common spelling of a given word, whether or not you spell it
correctly
 Search isn't case sensitive; enter either upper or lower case
keywords
 Google searches on every word you enter. Each additional
word limits results
 Precede your query with site: if you know you want your answer
from within a specific site or type of site
 Search ignores punctuation
 Google assumes an “AND” if you enter more than one keyword.
 Shortcuts in Google’s basic search box: + for AND - for NOT
Google Searching Tips

 Query modifiers
 file types
 define
 Wild Card Word in Phrase (WCWIP)
Advanced Features of Google

 Use these commands in the search window.
 intitle:test
 allintitle:test results
 inurl:testresults
 allinurl:testresults personality
 allintext:test results personality
 allinanchor:test results personality
 site:loc.gov
 filetype:doc
Query modifiers

This search returns
sites with the word test
in the title and results
anywhere in the
document.
intitle:test results

 ALL of the search terms will be found
in the title.
Note: In this example
there are much fewer
“hits” when both terms
(test AND results)
must be found in the
title of the page.
allintitle:test results

 inurl:test results – only test must be found in the web
address (URL)
inurl:test results

 Both test AND results must be found in the web
address.
allinurl:test results

 Sometimes you get pages that do not have your
search term/phrase in them.
 Why? Because Google also searches for pages that
just link to the target page.
 Use allintext to get only those pages that have your
search terms in them.
 Compare the searches in the next two slides…
allintext

Different pages float
to the top of your “hit
list”.
And you get fewer
pages than before.
2. allintext:crash test results

 Limit your search to a specific web site.
 Enter search terms then qualifier.
 EXAMPLES:
 “elephant race” site:fullerton.edu
Finds elephant race(s) on the Cal State Fullerton site
 dinosaur site:si.edu
Finds dinosaur on the Smithsonian Institute site
 One more…
Site:

Limits search of
Java Developer to
official LinkedIn
pages.
"java developer" site:linkedin.com

 You can specify a type of document to search.
 EXAMPLES:
 pdf – Adobe readable files
 doc – Microsoft Word documents
 mdb – Microsoft Access databases
 jpg, gif, tif – graphics, photos
 ppt – Microsoft PowerPoint presentations
filetype:

 will provide definitions of the words, gathered from
various online sources.
define:

 Using a wildcard (*) for a character does not work in
Google.
 cat* returns the same results as cat. However…
 You can replace unknown words with an asterisk (*).
Wild Card Word in Phrase *

How to view Profiles? (LinkedIn & Private)

Screen clipping taken: 21-Mar-14, 4:04 PM

X-Ray Search (LinkedIn from Google)

Boolean Training

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