AND | NARROWS RESULTS | results must include both words | e.g. rubrics AND evaluation |
OR | BROADENS RESULTS | results can include either word | e.g. assessment OR evaluation |
The approach you take when entering your search terms in a library database will affect the results you get. Before building a search, think about how you want to combine your search terms.
Quotation Marks: if you want a group of words to appear exactly as written, place the words in quotation marks. You might use quotation marks so those terms appear as a phrase and not isolated from one another. Example: "educational reform"
Asterisk: Using an asterisk (*) at the end of a word will bring back variations of the word.
Example: educat* will retrieve results with the words educate, educator, education, etc.
Warning: Be careful to not place the asterisk to early in the word because it may retrieve irrelevant results.
Example: ed** will retrieve educate, educator, and education, but it will also retrieve results with words like edge, edamame, edacity etc. which are not likely on point.