With lots of search systems, like online databases, there are filters to one side that help you narrow down what you want. You can use filters to keep your search to a certain period, like 2000 to 2021, or only books or journals, or media types like newspapers. This can all help you keep your results to a small number that are useful.
It's BOOLEAN OPERATORS. We've always liked the funny way 'boolean' sounds! Anyway, Boolean Operators are three little words ‘and’, ‘or, and ‘not’ can make a big difference to your search results.
If you type this
"Secondary NOT Primary"
You will get very different results than
"Secondary AND Primary"
And they will be different from
"Secondary OR Primary"
Go ahead, give it a try if you don’t believe us! Knowing about this is game changing, think about how great it will be to get rid of all that information you don’t need. Remember, we are trying to get a few results that are exactly what we want, not a billion ones we have to wade through.