HINTS on using literature databases Louis Volkers & Gerdien de Jonge Medical Library - Erasmus MC phone 87785

Medical Library Erasmus MC Introduction 1.Literature retrieval: the procedure 2.Available databases 3.How to access fulltext articles 4.Hints on PubMed 5.Demonstration 6.Questions?

Medical Library Erasmus MC Literature retrieval: the procedure  Problem definition  What is the problem? What do you want to know?  Put the question into words as a full sentence, the best one is a question that can be answered with 'yes' or 'no‘  Which are the important items in the question?  Generate synonyms and equivalencies  Be aware of British / American differences in spelling: tumour OR tumor; haemoglobin OR hemoglobin  What type of combinations? AND OR NOT  Which database(s) to use?  Perform searches, and find references  Evaluate the results  Eventually repeat previous steps  Collect relevant articles, read and interprete those  Did this answer your question?

Medical Library Erasmus MC Available literature databases  Primary literature (results of original research)  articles in journals (printed, electronic)  books, reports, etc.  Secundary literature (derivations of primary literature)  compilations, often with summaries (indexes)  PubMed (Medline), PsycInfo, Web-of-Science, PiCarta (EMbase is not available; at this moment it is too expensive for us, there is an extensive overlap with the free Medline)  Scopus (test), Google Scholar, searchable sites of publishers (Elsevier SciDir)  Reviews, systematic reviews, meta-analyses  Cochrane Library (Database of Systematic Reviews)  UpToDate (a kind of an e-book on internal medicine and pediatrics)

Medical Library Erasmus MC How to access fulltext articles?  Available in Erasmus MC:  a collection of about 700 printed journals (in the Medical Library)  a connection to about 4000 electronic journals (on the internet)  Which? See the Alphabetic List of All Journals on MB home  Journal not available? Request a photocopy (online request form; not for free)  PubMed opens up for about 4500 journals  start PubMed from MB home to see fulltext links  change Display = Abstract for clickable links to accessible fulltext:

Medical Library Erasmus MC Types of search strategies (Example: PubMed)  Free-text search search words in all fields  Subject search search subjects with standardized keywords (MeSH) PubMed combines both searches, depending on search terms  Limit search restrict to several attributes (f.e. age groups, type of research )  Index search search by selecting terms in alphabetic lists  Combine searches: AND OR NOT

Medical Library Erasmus MC Combinations

Medical Library Erasmus MC Types of search strategies (Example: PubMed)  Free-text search search words in all fields  Subject search search subjects with standardized keywords (MeSH) PubMed combines both searches, depending on search terms  Limit search restrict to several attributes (f.e. age groups, type of research )  Index search search by selecting terms in alphabetic lists  Combine searches: AND OR NOT

Medical Library Erasmus MC Subject search in Medline: standard keywords  MeSH: Medical Subject Headings Genotype Follow-Up Studies  additional subheadings (depends on type of keyword) Peptidyl-Dipeptidase A/genetics* Cardiovascular Diseases/mortality  used as major topic* or minor topic  functional tree structure > explosion of terms

Medical Library Erasmus MC Subject search in Medline: standard keywords  MeSH: Medical Subject Headings Genotype Follow-Up Studies  additional subheadings (depends on type of keyword) Peptidyl-Dipeptidase A/genetics* Cardiovascular Diseases/mortality  used as major topic* or minor topic  functional tree structure > explosion of terms

Medical Library Erasmus MC Record in PubMed (Display = Citation)

Medical Library Erasmus MC Subject search in Medline: standard keywords  MeSH: Medical Subject Headings Genotype Follow-Up Studies  additional subheadings (depends on type of keyword) Peptidyl-Dipeptidase A/genetics* Cardiovascular Diseases/mortality  used as major topic* or minor topic  functional tree structure > explosion of terms

Medical Library Erasmus MC MeSH - tree

Medical Library Erasmus MC Types of search strategies (Example: PubMed)  Free-text search search words in all fields  Subject search search subjects with standardized keywords (MeSH) PubMed combines both searches, depending on search terms  Limit search restrict to several attributes (f.e. age groups, type of research )  Index search search by selecting terms in alphabetic lists  Combine searches: AND OR NOT

Medical Library Erasmus MC How to find search terms?  just type your words (not the optimal way for a scientist)  click [MeSH Database] > type word > see MeSH terms > see MeSH tree > select MeSH term or select subheadings > add to search box > perform search  type the word(s) > [Go] > [Details] > see Automatic Term Mapping (next slide)  type the word(s) restricted to Title field f.e. genet*[ti] AND statist*[ti] > [Go] > change [Display=Summary] into [Display=Citation] > see the records indicated by 'indexed for MEDLINE' > usefull terms in the MeSH field? (demonstration)

Medical Library Erasmus MC Automatic Term Mapping Automatic Term Mapping search terms are automatically mapped to MeSH terms Conditions for searching:  do NOT search with word roots and a wildcard (*)  do NOT search "quoted phrase"  do NOT search by indexes (except for MeSH index)  do NOT search in special fields (f.e. title) (except ALL fields or MeSH field)

Medical Library Erasmus MC Automatic Term Mapping Automatic Term Mapping search terms are automatically mapped to MeSH terms Conditions for searching:  do NOT search with word roots and a wildcard (*)  do NOT search "quoted phrase"  do NOT search by indexes (except for MeSH index)  do NOT search in special fields (f.e. title) (except ALL fields or MeSH field) When term mapping succeeded, PubMed searches like this (click Details): subject in MeSH fields OR text word in all text fields f.e. search term = red blood cell => erythrocytes[MeSH Terms] OR red blood cell[Text Word] (n=127877) f.e. search term = red blood cell* => red blood cell[All Fields] OR red blood cells[All Fields] (n=34658)

Medical Library Erasmus MC SDI: What's new in Medline? SDI: What's new in Medline? automatical updates via "My NCBI" In "My NCBI" you can:  save your searches  automatic check for new citations by  special filter selections

Medical Library Erasmus MC SDI: What's new in Medline? SDI: What's new in Medline? automatical updates via "My NCBI" In "My NCBI" you can:  save your searches  automatic check for new citations by  special filter selections Actions:  First time: register; next time: log in with username and password  Configure display filters  Save searches, and configure updates  View "My NCBI"; make updates manually

Medical Library Erasmus MC Locations in the Medical Library (2nd floor building Ee)

Medical Library Erasmus MC Demonstration go to the home page of the Medical Library:    via Erasmus MC Intranet: click > Bibliotheek  via Erasmus MC Internet: click > Bibliotheek

Medical Library Erasmus MC