search syntax

hi everyone, I'm writing the code to make my mysql database searchable. I can search two columns, but I seem to have problems when I try to search three. In the SELECT statement, this WHERE statement works: WHERE column1 OR column2 LIKE '%$search%' AND... This WHERE statement doesn't work: WHERE column1 OR column2 OR column3 LIKE '%$search%' AND ... I'm obviously having a syntax problem...Thanks in advance for your help. And in case any of this is confusing, I'll include the real code below. Thanks, Matt $get_data = "select course.CourseNumber, course.CourseTitle, concat(prof.ProfFName, \" \", prof.ProfLName), instit.InstitName, disc.DiscName, course.Format from course, disc, instit, prof where course.CourseTitle or course.CourseDesc or disc.DiscName like '%$search%' and course.DiscID = disc.DiscID and course.InstitID = instit.InstitID and course.ProfID = prof.ProfID order by $orderby";