Nesting Nesting keeps concepts that are alike together and tells a search engine or online periodical index to search the terms in the parentheses first. Use parentheses to group concepts when you use two or more connectors. alcohol AND (adolescents OR teenagers) This search will retrieve records on alcohol and adolescents, as well as items on alcohol and teenagers. Nesting does not work with all databases or search engines. Check the help or tips screens if you are having trouble.