Take the Information Literacy Test to excel in assessing, evaluating, and applying information effectively. Use flashcards and multiple-choice questions with comprehensive explanations. Prepare for success!

Multiple Choice

Which search operator excludes a term from results?

Excluding a term from search results is done with the NOT operator. NOT tells the search tool to omit any results that contain the specified word, so you only see pages that do not include that term. This is different from AND, which requires both terms to appear; OR, which allows either term to appear; and NEAR, which requires the terms to be close to each other. For example, searching for bears NOT pandas will show results about bears that don’t mention pandas. In many tools you might also see this done with a minus sign, like bears -pandas, but the effect is the same: exclude that term.

Excluding a term from search results is done with the NOT operator. NOT tells the search tool to omit any results that contain the specified word, so you only see pages that do not include that term. This is different from AND, which requires both terms to appear; OR, which allows either term to appear; and NEAR, which requires the terms to be close to each other. For example, searching for bears NOT pandas will show results about bears that don’t mention pandas. In many tools you might also see this done with a minus sign, like bears -pandas, but the effect is the same: exclude that term.