CHOOSING PUB MED SEARCH TERMS

Is there anything I need to know about choosing search terms?

In the interest of keeping it simple here are a few guidelines for search terms:

1. Enter the name of the cancer, then enter AND (AND must be in capitals), then another more specific term.

So you might enter:

Breast cancer AND surgery; or

Breast cancer AND genetics; or

Breast cancer AND treatment; or

Breast cancer AND prognosis;

2.  If you know the specific medical term (which you probably read about in the reviews at www.cancer.gov) then use it.

For example, when we read about surgery for breast cancer we noted that the term used was breast conserving surgery which included surgeries such as lumpectomy, partial mastectomy, and total mastectomy.

So instead of searching for:

Breast cancer AND surgery

you’ll get better results searching for:

Breast cancer AND breast conserving surgery; or

Breast cancer AND lumpectomy, etc. 

3. You can get more specific by entering 3 search terms as in the following:

Breast cancer AND stage 1 AND treatment.

On the next page we’ll begin a sample search.

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