Boolean Searching Strategies

Directions: Post all answers for both sections to your blog.

Watch the Boolean presentation before completing this exercise.

The following candies are records in your database. They have the following properties:

Twix contain chocolate, cookie, and caramel
Caramel Kisses chocolate and caramel
Snickers contain chocolate, caramel, and nuts
Kit Kat contain chocolate and cookie
Caramels contain caramel (!)

What would be the results of the following search statements?

Example: If my Boolean statement is Chocolate AND Caramel, the results in my candy database (those candies that contain both chocolate and caramel) would be Twix, Caramel kisses, & Snickers. Now you try it:


1. Caramel NOT Nuts = twix, caramel kisses, and caramels

2. Chocolate OR Caramel = twix, caramel kisses, snickers, kit kat, caramels

3. (Chocolate AND Caramel) NOT Cookie = caramel kisses, snickers

4. Chocolate OR Nuts = twix, caramel kisses, snickers, kit kat

5. Cookie AND Chocolate = twix, kit kat

6. Chocolate NOT Caramel = kit kat

7. Nuts OR Caramel = twix, caramel kiss, snickers, caramels


*We highly recommend that you use this exercise as an excuse to eat candy. The candy pieces are the records in your (chocolaty) database!
Searching Haystac


1. Go to the library home page (http://library.csueastbay.edu).

Run a Keyword search on the following term: Colonialism

How many hits did you get? 355

Who is the author of the first work on your results list? Cohen, Benjamin B

What type of work is this? EBOOKS


2. Click "modify search" to go to the library catalog’s Advanced Search page. Add United States to the second search box. Leave colonialism in the first box.

How many results did you get? 47

Find the result authored by Kharem, Haroon.

What's the title of this work? A curriculum of repression : A pedagogy of racial history in the United States

What is the Call Number? LC2741 .K53 2006

Where in the library would you go to get this book? (hint--check the library floor plans by following the Maps link at the very bottom of the library home page)
Learning Commons, Lower floor

Use the information in the record for this work to create an APA citation.
Refer the APA Citation Guidelines handout from week 2 for help.

Kharem, Haroon. (2006). A curriculum of repression : A pedagogy of racial history in the United States. New York: P. Lang.


3. Click "back" on your browser, then "modify search." In the search box, add Britain to create the statement (United States OR Britain). Remember that OR widens your search results, instructing the library catalog to return all results with "united states" or "Britain" somewhere in the record, and also the term "colonialism."

How many results did you get? 24197

What is the title of the first work on your results list? Mental Health in a Multi-Ethnic Society: A Multi-Disciplinary Handbook


List two subject headings for this work: Minorities – Mental Health Services; Social Psychiatry


Look carefully at this record. Why did the library catalog pull up this book (where did it find a match for your search phrase?) It found a match in the contents/subject headings.


Use the information in the record for this work to create an APA citation. Refer to the APA Citation Guidelines handout from week 2 for help.
Fernando, S., & Keating, F. (Eds.). (2009). Mental health in a multi-ethnic society: A multi-disciplinary handbook. New York: Routledge.



4. Return to the main Haystac search page (you can click Another Search). Type the following into the first search box: global warming

Under Limits, choose "Reference Collection" from the location menu.

Under Sorted By: Search and Sort, choose "sorted bv date"


What is the title of the most recent work (top of the list)
Endangered Species

Where in the library would you find this?
QH75. E665 2008 (Reference Stacks): Southside of the Upper Mall

5. Now start over and run a search for a video about global warming (search and sort by date).

What is the most recently produced video in the library?
An Inconvenient Truth

What is this video's call number?
DVD 572

Where in the library would you go to get this?
Reserves: Upper Mall at the Reserves Desk