Boolean Operators
Boolean operators or connectors can be used to improve your search results. When using either the simple or advanced search, you can use either AND, OR, or NOT. You can also group them together.
AND narrows a search. It is the default search method used in the simple search.
This search ... ... would find ... these results. women and welder records with both of these words [View results of sample search] Joseph and Lamar and christen* records with all three of these words and their variants [View results of sample search] OR broadens a search.
This search ... ... would find ... these results. liberty or knot records with either or both these words [View results of sample search] crane* or scaffold* records with any combination of these words or their variants [View results of sample search] NOT eliminates terms from a search.
This search ... ... would find ... these results. christmas not santa records with christmas that don't contain santa [View results of sample search] liberty not sam* records with liberty that don't contain variants of sam [View results of sample search]
You can also group search terms together to create more complex searches by using parentheses.
| This search ... | ... would find ... | these results. |
| welder and women or female | records with welder and women or records with female | [View results of sample search] |
| welder and (women or female) | records with welder and women or records with welder and female | [View results of sample search] |