Boolean logic can best be described as a system of filtering results to both expand or narrow concept sand terminology. Based on three simple "filters"--AND, OR, or NOT--people can open up or narrow their search results.
For our topic of research, and considering how recently the Rob Ford scandal took place, it was not difficult to turn up numerous results with simple searches for popular sources. Boolean was most helpful on the library databases when looking for research on satirical news reporting. To search this topic I used such terms or combinations as:
Satire OR Humour AND News or Reporting
Jon Stewart And Satirical AND News
Boolean was successful in finding not only a vast amount of sources, but sources that were more related and relevant to my article because of the "filters" I applied.
I recently used Boolean searching for an art history assignment. I was looking into indigenous representation in the early artworks of Emily Carr. My knowledge of indigenous culture, history and art gives me the background to know that the identifier for indigenous people has changed almost as much as Rachel's hair cut on Friends. In the past 30 years the terms Aboriginal, First Nations, Native, Native American, and Indian have been applied as their cultural name. To this day they label differs based even on.region. Currently in Canada we use the term indigenous, while in the States the term American Indian is in practice.
This is all to say that when I search for an article, for efficiency I search something like:
Indigenous OR native OR aboriginal AND Emily Carr AND representation OR identity
Boolean searches are essential when subject take on multiple names, reference systems or terminology.
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