I think Boolean searching works better in databases than it does on the internet, just because of the way the two are set up to search.

A high school English teacher called me in to help her class.  The students were creating TED-type talks about the subject of their choosing.  They were required to include, I believe, at least three sources from databases.  Many of the topics were VERY specific (along the lines of "academic achievement of African American children growing up in urban single-parent families")--things where databases sent them in wrong directions very easily because of one inaccurate search term, and many hits on the internet were anecdotal or short memoirs rather than solid facts and statistics.  The teacher realized the students' questions were above her expertise with our databases; I sat in on a research session for a few minutes and realized that Boolean searching would help enormously.  That assignment probably led to the most genuine appreciation I'd ever gotten from our students.  I still use as an example the debate I had with a student on a video clip she wanted to use for her report on . . . I forget the details, something about the health effects of hydration.  She wanted to use a Youtube clip of a guy in a tricked out convertible telling the person behind the camera how much he was enjoying a drink of water.  I asked what point she was trying to make with that particular video; her point was more academic and health-centered, and I challenged car-guy's credentials for reliability.  Interesting discussion.

Hope this helps.

Cathy Andronik

Retired (Brien McMahon HS, Norwalk)