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COMBINING
SETS
After searching for each piece of our topic independently, we must COMBINE the sets together to create the relationships between the search terms/concepts. The "Boolean operators" that are used to combine sets are AND, OR, and in rare cases, NOT.
The combine function will create
a new set on the Main Search Page.
Sets can be combined in the following ways:
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OR
Either one or all
of the selected terms may appear in the retrieved citation; (used to include similar
terms or concepts, or to group synonyms or like-terms).
This will increase the number of citations to review by linking
synonyms together into one big group.
The explode function works like an OR, in the case of this search, stringing together various heart diseases such as heart arrest, arrhythmia, endocarditis, heart valve disease, and other terms that are all classified as types of heart diseases.
EXAMPLES
Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome OR
AIDS-related complexes
pregnancy, first trimester OR pregnancy,
second trimester
myocardial infarction OR heart arrest
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AND
All terms must appear
in each reference. Use this when you want to create a relationship between
two different concepts that both/all must be represented in the retrieved literature.
This will decrease the number of citations to review by finding
only those citations that contain both/all concepts.
EXAMPLES
tuberculosis AND homelessness
pregnancy, first trimester AND abortion,
spontaneous
heart diseases AND cocaine
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NOT
The term will not appear
in the reference. NOT is used to eliminate terms which may be included in some of
the citations but are not relevant to the topic. USE WITH CAUTION. Using a NOT can potentially eliminate useful citations.
EXAMPLES
terminal illnesses NOT cancer
breast cancer NOT female |
These Venn diagrams show you a visual display of how the boolean operators work: 
Let's try a few practice exercises before we go back to our search.
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