1. Literature searching
A literature search identifies relevant information sources that are used to answer clinical questions

2. Evidence-based Chiropractic
PubMed searching
Search using keywords, text words, or subject headings
PubMed looks for entered keywords or text words in each of the possible fields of a record
e.g., author, title, abstract, journal name, volume, issue, date, etc.
Evidence-based Chiropractic

3. Evidence-based Chiropractic
Search dropdown list
Features bar
Query box
Sidebar
Evidence-based Chiropractic

4. Evidence-based Chiropractic
PubMed homepage
Search terms are typed into the Query box
The Search drop-down list is typically left in its default position
The MeSH database can be searched from the Search drop-down list or using a link in the sidebar
Headache
Evidence-based Chiropractic

5. The tutorial is excellent Link to the MeSH Database
PubMed sidebar
The tutorial is excellent
Link to the MeSH Database
Clinical Queries link
Evidence-based Chiropractic

6. Evidence-based Chiropractic
PubMed sidebar (cont.)
The Clinical Queries link permits searches designed to answer clinical questions
Topics can be searched by clinical study categories (e.g., therapy, diagnosis, prognosis, etc.)
Or to only search for systematic reviews
Evidence-based Chiropractic

7. PubMed Clinical Queries search
Search term
Select study
category
Evidence-based Chiropractic

8. Evidence-based Chiropractic
MANTIS
The MANTIS High Clinical Relevancy option is similar to PubMed’s Clinical Queries
High Clinical Relevancy limits a search to articles that involve clinical trials or case reports
Evidence-based Chiropractic

9. MANTIS advanced search page
MANTIS Advanced search screen
Search term
High Clinical Relevancy check box
Evidence-based Chiropractic

10. PubMed Basic Search mode
Simply enter search terms in the Query box and click Go
PubMed produces a list of retrieved citations
Stopwords are ignored by PubMed
e.g., the, and, because, thus, etc.
They don’t add or detract anything from the search results
Evidence-based Chiropractic

11. Search results for chiropractic
Click to see full citation
Check box then click Display
Evidence-based Chiropractic

12. Select format for display view
Sort records by option
Results can be sent
Evidence-based Chiropractic

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Multiple checkboxes
More than one record can be viewed at the same time by selecting the checkboxes next to the desired citations
Select a drop-down menu choice to set the display format
PubMed keeps track of checkboxes and displays all checked records when requested by clicking Display
Evidence-based Chiropractic

14. Advanced PubMed search tactics
Limits
Click the Limits tab on the Features bar
Select the limiting search criteria from the screen that appears
Evidence-based Chiropractic

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16. Evidence-based Chiropractic
More limit criteria
Evidence-based Chiropractic

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Limits (cont.)
Searching with limits will only retrieve articles that meet the limiting criteria that are set
Selecting from the Type of article menu limits searches to specific publication types
e.g., meta-analyses, clinical trials, case reports, editorials, etc.
Evidence-based Chiropractic

18. Evidence-based Chiropractic
Limits example
A search using the terms carpal tunnel syndrome without limits yields 5,728 citations―far too many to contend with
Whereas only 15 are retrieved when the following limits are set
English
Clinical Trial
Complementary Medicine
Evidence-based Chiropractic

19. Evidence-based Chiropractic
Field tags
Used to refine searches by forcing the query to consider specific search fields
Results are very similar to what is achieved using Limits
Thus, field tags are optional in PubMed
Some think field tags are easier to use and prefer them
Limits function is only partial in MANTIS
Evidence-based Chiropractic

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Field tags (cont.)
Field tags are placed within brackets after search terms
Does not matter how many spaces between the search term and the field tag
Does not matter whether upper or lower case letters are used
To use field tags
Enter the search term in the query box followed by a field tag within brackets
Evidence-based Chiropractic

21. Common PubMed Field Tags
Affiliation [AD] Author Name [AU] Journal Title Abbreviation [TA] Language [LA] MeSH Terms [MH] Publication Date [DP]
Page Number [PG] Publication Type [PT] Volume [VI] Issue [IP] Subset [SB] Text Words [TW] Title Words [TI]
Evidence-based Chiropractic

22. Evidence-based Chiropractic
Field tags example
If spinal stenosis is searched for in PubMed
Without any field tags, 2960 citations result
spinal stenosis
Using the Title Words [TI] field tag, only 731
spinal stenosis [TI]
Combined with Author Name [AU], only 4
spinal stenosis [TI] smith [AU]
Evidence-based Chiropractic

23. Boolean (Logical) operators
Words that combine search terms to narrow down or broaden searches
Consist of AND, OR, and NOT
Should always be capitalized
Used by many databases, including PubMed and MANTIS
Evidence-based Chiropractic

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Boolean operator AND
AND limits or narrows down a search
Combines terms so that only citations that contain both terms are retrieved
For example
A PubMed search for sacroiliac joint yields 2,760 citations and manipulation 33,819
Searching sacroiliac joint AND manipulation narrows the results down to 76
Evidence-based Chiropractic

25. AND example sacroiliac joint 2,760 citations
manipulation 33,819 citations
sacroiliac joint AND manipulation 76 citations
Evidence-based Chiropractic

26. Combining more than 2 terms
sacroiliac manipulation
joint
chiropractic
sacroiliac joint AND manipulation AND chiropractic
18 citations
Evidence-based Chiropractic

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Boolean operator OR
OR expands a search
All articles that contain either of the queried terms are retrieved
For example
Searching PubMed for sacroiliac joint OR manipulation expands the results to 36,503
OR is useful when searching for different versions of a word
e.g., manipulation OR adjustment
Evidence-based Chiropractic

28. OR example sacroiliac joint 2,760 citations
manipulation 33,819 citations
sacroiliac joint OR manipulation
36,503 citations
Evidence-based Chiropractic

29. Evidence-based Chiropractic
Boolean operator NOT
NOT also limits or narrows down a search
Only retrieves citations that do include the first term, but do not include the second term
For example
Searching PubMed for sacroiliac joint NOT manipulation narrows down the number of citations from 2,760 to 2,684
76 articles include manipulation and the SI joint, so they are eliminated
Evidence-based Chiropractic

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NOT example
sacroiliac
joint
NOT
manipulation
sacroiliac manipulation joint
Articles that include both sacroiliac joint and manipulation are eliminated
Evidence-based Chiropractic

31. Evidence-based Chiropractic
Nesting
Controls the order in which PubMed processes search terms
From left to right by default
Search terms are enclosed in parentheses
Terms within the parentheses are processed first
Boolean operators can be included
Evidence-based Chiropractic

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Nesting example
If a doctor wants information on the non-surgical treatment of carpal tunnel syndrome, the query might look like this
carpal tunnel syndrome AND (treatment NOT surgery)
This search will locate articles that deal with treatment, but not those that involve surgery
Evidence-based Chiropractic

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Nesting example 2
Searching chiropractic AND (whiplash OR chronic pain)
The database will first find all references that contain whiplash plus those that contain chronic pain
Then it will restrict results to those that also contain the word chiropractic
Evidence-based Chiropractic

34. The AND operator is used between words by default
PubMed searches for headache AND therapy exactly the same way as headache therapy
Thus, AND is sometimes optional
To see how PubMed performed a search
Click the Details tab after the search is complete
Read the Query Translation
Evidence-based Chiropractic

35. Translation is exactly the same when AND is used
Details tab
Translation is exactly the same when AND is used
Evidence-based Chiropractic

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Query Translation
Useful in figuring out why an unproductive search failed
Also to plan a subsequent search strategy that will be more successful
Evidence-based Chiropractic

37. Automatic Term Mapping
When terms are searched without a field tag, they are matched (in order) against the
MeSH Translation Table
Journals Translation Table
Full Author Translation Table
Author Index
Evidence-based Chiropractic

38. Automatic Term Mapping (cont.)
If the term matches a MeSH term, it is searched both as a MeSH term and a Text Word
The Journals Translation Table yields an abbreviated title when the journal’s full title is searched
Journal of the American Medical Association
JAMA or J Am Med Assoc
Evidence-based Chiropractic

39. Automatic Term Mapping (cont.)
The Full Author Translation Table retrieves the author’s full name
Only for articles published after 2001
Order of names doesn’t matter
Searching meeker william c is equivalent to william c meeker
Commas are not necessary
Helpful to distinguish first from last names (e.g., John James)
Evidence-based Chiropractic

40. Truncation (a.k.a, wildcard search)
Search for various uses of the same root word
The root word verte can be expanded to vertebra, vertebrae, vertebral, etc.
Searching only vertebral misses other forms of the word
The root word with an asterisk retrieves all forms of the word
e.g., verte*
Evidence-based Chiropractic

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Truncation (cont.)
An * can be placed at the beginning or end of search terms
An * can also be placed within a word when a letter is variable or absent
The search term an*emia will look for anemia and anaemia
analy*e will look for analyze and analyse
Evidence-based Chiropractic

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Phrase searching
Forces PubMed to search for a phrase rather than individual terms
Only the exact phrase will be queried
The phrase must be placed within quotation marks
A search of intervertebral disc herniation produces 11,747 citations
Whereas “intervertebral disc herniation” produces only 183
Evidence-based Chiropractic

43. Medical Subject Headings (MeSH)
A list of vocabulary terms used to index medical literature
Developed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM)
MeSH terms are assigned to all MEDLINE records by NLM indexers corresponding to the article’s major topics
Evidence-based Chiropractic

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Finding MeSH terms
Select MeSH from the drop-down list next to the Search button on the PubMed homepage
Enter term in PubMed query box
A list of the MeSH terms or alternative suggestions will appear
Evidence-based Chiropractic

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Enter term
Select MeSH
Evidence-based Chiropractic

46. Evidence-based Chiropractic
No terms found
Suggested terms
Click likely terms
Evidence-based Chiropractic

47. List of MeSH terms (only one in this case)
Evidence-based Chiropractic

48. Finding MeSH terms (cont.)
Another way to find MeSH terms is to view the citation format of an article
Click Citation from the drop-down list next to the Display button located at the top and bottom of each page of retrieved records
Evidence-based Chiropractic

49. Check the articles of interest
Select Citation
Check the articles of interest
Evidence-based Chiropractic

50. The complete citation appears Including a list of MeSH terms
Evidence-based Chiropractic

51. Finding MeSH terms (cont.)
A final way to find MeSH terms is to perform a free-text search then look at PubMed’s automatic term mapping translation
Click the Details tab and look at the terms in the Query Translation box
MeSH terms have a [MeSH Terms] field tag next to them
Evidence-based Chiropractic

52. Evidence-based Chiropractic
Building a MeSH search
From the MeSH database
Select terms to include in the search by checking the adjacent box
Select the location to send the term to in the Send to drop down list
Other MeSH terms can be found and added to the Search Box by repeating this process
Evidence-based Chiropractic

53. Send term to Search Box with AND, OR, or NOT
Check MeSH term
Evidence-based Chiropractic

54. More terms can be added to build a search
Click when ready to perform the search
Evidence-based Chiropractic

55. Evidence-based Chiropractic
MeSH (cont.)
MeSH indexers must
Have at least a bachelor's degree in a biomedical science
Have reading knowledge of one or more foreign languages
Be trained in principles of MEDLINE indexing and complete several weeks of on-the-job training at the Library
MeSH terms may at times be incorrect
Evidence-based Chiropractic

56. MeSH terms are optional
Search using any word in the title, abstract, or other field of the citation
However, searching with MeSH terms narrows down the search and provides more focused results
MeSH terms should be used when possible
Evidence-based Chiropractic

57. MANTIS - Controlled Supplemental Vocabulary
Similar to MeSH headings
Functions with MeSH terms
Search terms are specific to complementary and alternative medicine
e.g., Gonstead Technic, Toggle Recoil Adjustment, Innate Intelligence, etc.
Evidence-based Chiropractic