Boolean Search & Retrieval

Title of the Article: Boolean Searching in the Internet: A Primer on Boolean Logic

URL: http://www.internettutorials.net/boolean/hlml

Abstract of the Article:

Boolean logic refers to the logical relationship among search terms. Boolean logic is named after the British born Irish mathematician George Boole.

Boolean logic consists of the following logical operations:

OR logic is most commonly used to search synonymous terms or concepts. It collates the results to retrieve all the unique records containing one term, the other or both.

AND logic retrieves records in which BOTH of the search terms are present. The more terms or concepts are combined in a search with AND logic, the fewer records will be retrieved.

NOT logic retrieves records in which ONLY one of the terms is present. NOT logic excludes records from your search results.

Internet searching must follow the rules of computer database searching. Database searching is based on the principle of Boolean logic. The use of Boolean logic may be manifested in 3 ways:

1. Full Boolean logic with use of logical operators which is not commonly used.
2. Implied Boolean logic with keyword searching refers to a search in which symbols are used to represent Boolean logical operators. This is considered as the de facto standard.
3. Predetermined language in a user fill-in template allows the user to choose the Boolean operator from a menu. The logical operator is expressed with substitute language.

Three things I learned from my Reading Assignment

1. We use the Boolean logical operators when retrieving computer database.
2. The proper use of the Boolean logical operators would help in the easier retrieval of records / data.
3. In searching data in the internet, one must be aware of what kind of records / data is required to be able to succesfully retrieve the correct information.

Implications of the new things I learned to my work / to me as a person:

With the understanding of the Boolean logic of search and retrieval, I have a better appreciation on how searching databases in the internet can be maximized. The correct usage of the logical operators would help for the easier retrieval of information in the internet.