Part 8: Combining

A. Combining using "OR"

Often we need to combine searches. Sometimes our research is quite broad -- we are interested in articles that contain either of two (or more) subjects.

Let's say we're interested in temporomandibular joint disorders, but we're also interested in the temporomandibular joint itself. So we want to find articles that are either about TMJ disorders OR about the temporomandibular joint.

First we need to search for each of these two subjects separately, and then we need to combine them using "OR".

To save time in this tutorial, let's assume that we already searched for each subject separately and got these results:

exp Temporomandibular Joint/ - 1877

If you'd like to see the details of how we did these two searches, please click here.

Now that we have our two searches, we just have to combine them.

At the top of the screen are a number of icons:

icons

We click the "Combine" icon:

Combine

This takes us to the Combine Searches screen:

Combine Searches

We check off the searches we want to combine:

Combine Searches

Then we open the drop-down menu:

Combine selections with:

and we select "OR":

Combine Searches

After clicking "Continue", we see our results:

1 or 2 - 3667

By combining search # 1 OR search # 2, we have found 3,677 articles which are either about TMJ disorders, OR about the temporomandibular joint (or both).


Next:
Part 8: Combining (continued)
B.  Combining using "AND"

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