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Nursing 320: PICO(T) Research

Synonyms and Related Terms

Now that you have your PICO(T) keywords, you need to develop a list of synonyms and related terms. In the English language, there are many ways of saying the same thing (for example: Breast Cancer OR Breast Neoplasms), but the catalog and databases will only search for the exact term(s) that you enter. If you type in 'breast cancer', but not 'breast neoplasms' then only 'breast cancer' will be searched for, even though 'breast neoplasms' is the same thing. The easiest way to come up with synonyms and related terms is to create a quick chart (see examples below) that lists your keywords, synonyms, and related terms. 

 

Example One: In breast cancer patients experiencing fatigue, what is the effect of yoga on quality of life?

Main Keyword Related Terms
breast cancer breast neoplasm or breast carcinoma or breast tumor
fatigue  exhaustion or tiredness or lethargy
yoga  yoga therapy or yoga exercise or yoga practice or yoga intervention
quality of life well being or well-being

 

Example Two: For women experiencing menopause does acupuncture alleviate sleep disorders?

Main Keyword Related Terms
Menopause  menopausal or perimenopause or perimenopausal
acupuncture acupuncture therapy or acupuncture treatment or dry needling
sleep disorders sleep disturbance or sleep problems or insomnia

 

 

 

 To search multiple keywords and related terms, you'll need to use connector terms, also called Boolean Operators. Using a Boolean Operator will tell the database or catalog to connect the terms together in your search!

Modifiers:

In addition to Boolean Operators, modifiers are also used to create an effective search string. A few of the most common modifiers are listed below:

 

  • TRUNCATION

Type an asterisk following a word stem to retrieve a variety of word endings.

Example: searching prevent* retrieves records with the terms prevent, prevents, preventing, prevention, and preventative. Searching mobili* will retrieve records with mobility, mobilization, mobilize.

 

  • QUOTATIONS

Type quotes around all phrases to ensure that the phrase is searched instead of each word individually: 

Example:  “public health” or '"affordable care act"

 

  • NESTING

Refers to the use of parentheses to organize a search statement that uses more than one kind of connector or operator (AND, OR, NOT). Nest search terms whenever there's only one text entry box. 

Example: (fatigue OR tiredness) AND (breast cancer OR breast neoplasm).