Boolean Searching is searching using and, or, not to clarify your search.
AND = helps limit a search by only showing results that include both topics
OR = expands a search by showing results about each individual topic and where the topics meat
NOT = excludes parts of a search
Colorado State University has put together a great interactive tutorial you can use to test yourself. Access it here.
If your topic is:
What is the influence of Andy Warhol's work in popular culture today?
1. Identify keywords or phrases:
Andy Warhol Popular culture Pop art
2. Explore synonyms for your keywords/phrases:
Pop Art: contemporary art, art movements
Popular culture: customs, traditions, practices, civilization
What is truncation? Truncation is removing the end of a word and replacing it with a symbol. So why would you do that? Because it will search multiple versions of a single word without you having to type them all in.
To truncate a search term, do a keyword search in a database but add an asterisk (*) to the end of the word after you've cut off part of it. Confused? See the example below.
For example:
Art* will search for Art, Artist, Artistic
(Be careful, you might also get results for words like artifact, artemis, artery, etc.)