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Physician Assistant Program

A guide to the most useful Physician Assistant resources at IUPUI

Search: Foundations

Foundational Search Skills

Know these search skills to set yourself up for success finding the resources you need

 

  1. Boolean Operator: AND
  2. Boolean Operator: OR
  3. Nested searching: (.....) parentheses

Required Skills

1. Boolean Operator: AND

The Boolean Operator AND is used to ensure that each different concept is included in search results

 

Why and How use Boolean Operator AND?
  1. Use AND between different concepts 
  2. It narrows the number of search results
Example

Venn Diagram showing music therapy in one circle and dementia in another. Demonstrates how use of AND brings back only resources that include both music therapy and dementia concepts

 

2. Boolean Operator: OR

The Boolean Operator OR is used to find any of your search terms in search results

 

Why and How use Boolean Operator OR?
  1. Use OR between similar concepts 
  2. It broadens the number of search results
Example

Venn Diagram showing dementia in one circle and Alzheimer's in another circle combined with Boolean Operator OR. Demonstrates how Boolean Operator OR brings back the term, dementia, the term Alzheimer, or both terms.

 

3. Nested searching: Parentheses

(___ OR ___) AND (___ OR ___ OR ___) AND (___ OR ___)

 
Nested searching (parentheses) is used so that your search terms are combined correctly

 

Why use parentheses?

You must use parentheses when combining multiple search terms using Boolean Operators because ...

  • Databases process searches from left to right by default

  • Parentheses ensure your search terms are processed using mathematical Order of Operations. Search terms within parentheses are processed first. Then these search terms are combined with search terms outside the parentheses

 
How to use parentheses?
  1. STEP 1: Combine multiple similar terms used for same concept using OR within parentheses 
  2. STEP 2: Combine different concepts using AND between different sets of parentheses
Example

Two Venn Diagrams demonstrating correct and incorrect way to use parentheses. First Venn Diagram of three circles demonstrating a search error if you do not place parentheses around similar concepts that are combined with OR. Second Venn Diagram with three circles demonstrating the correct use of parentheses when searching for (music therapy) AND (dementia OR Alzheimer's). This search will bring back results about music therapy AND dementia as well as results about music therapy AND Alzheimer's.

LEGEND: Two Venn Diagrams demonstrating correct and incorrect parentheses use

Left Venn Diagram: Incorrect search due to no parentheses around similar search terms combined with OR. Search finds results about music therapy AND dementia. Search also finds results about Alzheimer's that are unrelated to Music Therapy

Right Venn Diagram: Correct search due to parentheses around similar search terms combined with OR. Search finds results about music therapy AND dementia as well as results about music therapy AND Alzheimer's