Plan a Search

In this activity you can practice planning a search, from the keywords to the subject headings.

The topic question is:

Are female non-smokers with daily exposure to second-hand smoke over a period of ten years or greater more likely to develop breast cancer when compared with female non-smokers without daily exposure to second-hand smoke?

On the next pages, you will use this question to plan your search.

Choosing Keywords

Topic question: Are female non-smokers with daily exposure to second-hand smoke over a period of ten years or greater more likely to develop breast cancer when compared with female non-smokers without daily exposure to second-hand smoke?

Which of the following words would be good keywords for your topic question?

Compared
Ten
Non-smoker
Daily
Breast cancer
Female
Second-hand smoke
Exposure

Boolean Operators Part 1

You want to look for results about female smokers who have been exposed to second-hand smoke. Which of the following Boolean Operators should you use in between the concepts of female smokers and second-hand smoke?

ALSO
AND
OR
NOT

Boolean Operators Part 2

You want to combine Operators to improve your search. Which of the following is the correct method for doing so?

Non-smoker AND (women OR female)
Non-smoker and women or female
Non-smoker AND “women OR female”
Non-smoker AND women OR female

Searching for Phrases

You want to search for second-hand smoke, but you want to make sure to search for it all together as a phrase. What should you search for?

“Second-hand AND smoke”
(Second-hand smoke)
“Second-hand smoke”
Second-hand smoke

Using Truncation

You want to search for information about smoking, but you also want to look for variations of the word, like smoke or smokers. The database in which you are searching uses * as the truncation symbol. What is the best way to search?

Smoking*
Smok*
Smo*
Smoking *smoke*smokers