Entering Commands

Next, I will enter the second concept and press ENTER.
Note that I am connecting all of the synonyms under Concept 2 with the logical operator OR. The results are shown below. Note I put the synonyms in parentheses.

s xbox or x()box

?S XBOX OR X()BOX
             596  XBOX 
            4411  X 
            9267  BOX 
              57  X(W)BOX 
      S2     647  XBOX OR X()BOX

I will continue to refine the search by adding the third concept and pressing the ENTER key.

s (s1 or s2) and compet?

?S (S1 OR S2) AND COMPET?
             506  S1 
             647  S2 
           37171  COMPET? 
      S3     250  (S1 OR S2) AND COMPET?

I will add my final search to the previous set, again putting synonyms in parentheses. The results are shown below.

s s3 and (sale? or statistic?)

?S S3 AND (SALE? OR STATISTIC?)
             250  S3 
           78948  SALE? 
            4318  STATISTIC? 
      S4     151  S3 AND (SALE? OR STATISTIC?)

Go to the Exercises to review what you have just learned.

3-4

Learn More #1:

There are two ways to put the search strategy together:

We can put all of the search terms together in one search statement. If this method is used, and we use AND and OR operators in the same search query, we must group the synonyms using parentheses.

Example: s (threat? or hazard?) and (radon or asbestos)
We can create a separate set for each concept and then group the sets together.

Examples:

s threat? or hazard?
s radon or asbestos
s s1 and s2

We are using Method 2 in our search strategy.

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