25 Search PubMed
Review the search statement that has been created. Do you need to edit the parentheses or Boolean operators? If so, make the needed changes.
Changes are usually not needed if your search contains just one term or heading/subheading combination for each search concept. However, if you’re using two or more subheadings with a single heading or more than one heading for a concept, it’s very important to check your strategy.
- Have you joined the alternate heading/subheading combinations or alternate headings for a single concept with OR?
- Is there a set of parentheses enclosing each set of OR’d terms?
- Are there any parentheses nested inside the set of parentheses that encloses a set of OR’d terms? If so, is the inner set both opened with a – (- and closed with a – ) – inside the outer parentheses. If not, the inner parenthesis will break the function of the outer set. Fix the problem before proceeding.
- When you’re satisfied with your search statement, click the “Search PubMed” button.