Search & Research

OR

The OR operator tells the database that either term should appear in each result. OR broadens your results because it allows multiple words to satisfy the criteria of your search.

Think about this search: Cat OR Feline

This search will return results that include either the term cat, the term feline, or both. The left circle below represents the results from the search for cat. The right circle below represents the results for the search for feline. Both circles are shaded, showing you the results for Cat OR Feline. This is a larger number of results. This can be helpful when we have multiple ways to describe an important idea.

Use OR to connect keywords that describe the same main idea.

When you start mixing OR and AND operators, enclose your OR clauses in parenthesis. This helps keep your meaning clear for the database. Here's an example of what that looks like: (Cat OR Feline) AND Meme