Boolean Operators AND, OR, and NOT connect each keyword and/or keyword phrase in a statement such as: What is the relationship between United States intelligence operations and counterterrorism?
In the following examples, circles and areas in the Venn Diagrams that appear purple are returned as search results by the database.
Use AND to narrow a search strategy and to look for two or more terms in your result.
Example: United States AND counterterrorism
Use OR to broaden a search and to find either or both concepts in the result.
Example: counterterrorism OR counter terrorism
In this case, every article with either "counter terrorism" or "counterterrorism" is returned in the list of results.
Credo Reference is a database that Joyner Library has access to that will be of great use to you as your start your research. The database includes many reference books like encyclopedias, dictionaries, and more. Two other things that will be helpful in coming up with keywords and ideas for your research are their mind maps (pictured below) and their pro/con research tools, which shows both sides of current issues.
To use Credo Reference to develop your topic, you may want to try:
Here is a video that shows you how to use the Credo Mindmap, as well as a link to a mindmap about sociology.
