Preliminary Overviews-1
Step one in any research project is to get a broad overview of the topic or subject area to be explored. (See The Research Process, chapter four: "Step One: Using Encyclopedias.")
A good place to begin is with a standard encyclopedia article. For this purpose, let's visit Encyclopaedia Britannica Online (already loaded in the lower window, if you're using the "frames" version of this tutorial) and use its search engine to search for "American Indian." Type "American Indian" in the space and then click "Search" with your mouse.
The search found over 20,000 relevant articles because it found every article with "American" or "Indian" mentioned in it. Choosing "Restrict your search" will limit the results to articles containing both words.
Computer searches use "Boolean operators" to define the object of a search. "Find American or Indian" uses the "Boolean operator" or, while Britannica's "Restrict your search" function automatically changes the operator, thus:" Find American and Indian." Try "Restrict your search" and notice that the search engine automatically inserts the appropriate Boolean operator.
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