| Symbol | Example | Description |
|---|---|---|
| " " | "breast cancer" | Searches the exact phrase found in the quotes. This search will yield articles with "breast cancer," but NOT articles that only contain the word "breast," or the word "cancer," or contain the words separately. |
| * | bio* |
Signifies a wild card. Will yield articles with the prefix submitted and any ending, such as: |
| AND | (cats) AND (dogs) | Adds search terms to the search, will limit the results to only articles that contain both terms. AND is usually implied, but can be used with parentheses and OR to make the search more precise. |
| OR | (Arabidopsis OR "A. thaliana") | Expands the search, a good way to add synonyms or binomial names to search terms. This example will return any article with either the word "Arabidopsis" or A. thaliana. |
| NOT | Ash NOT tree | Excludes articles that have the term. This will return results with the word "ash" but not if the results also contain the word "tree." |