Basic searching on Ovid databases on the NHS Scotland eLibrary

www.elib.scot.nhs.uk

Maria Henderson Library

NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde Partnerships

September 2006

NHS Scotland eLibrary

• Available on any PC with an internet connection

• Databases can be accessed with your NHS Athens password

• This demonstration uses the Medline database. Other databases available via Ovid have the same layout and similar commands.

Login here with your Athens password for seamless access to resources and any favourite links.

Click on “Databases – full list” to select fromthe list of databases

available

To access Medline and other databases from Ovid, click on “Ovid collection”

Scroll down the list of Oviddatabases and click on

“Medline”. Remember to choosea year range to suit you

(eg. 1996-2006)

Type search term in here

Searches can be limited, eg. byyear of publication

Search strategy

• This example shows a search for information on special education for people with mental handicap

• It helps to divide your search into sections – in this case, “mental handicap” and “special education”. Do each search separately then combine the results later, as in the following example.

Type your first term in the search box and click on “Search”

Select the subject heading which matches what you typed in by ticking

the box in the left-hand margin. Subject headings will use

US spelling and terminology.

“Explode” looks for the selectedsubject heading and all of its morespecific terms. “Focus” looks for

articles where your subjectheading is the main subject covered.

For a definition of the term, click on the scope note next to it

Scope note will give a definitionand related terms which you could

add to your search

Click on “Previous page” to return to the previous screen

Click on the heading to look at the subject tree, which shows broader

and more specific subject headingsfor searching

Subject trees show subject headings in a “tree” formation. Scroll

down to find “Mental retardation”.

Your subject heading(highlighted)

Narrower headings, which would be included in

your search if you tick“explode”.

Tick here to “explode”the search

Scroll back to the top of the pageand click on “Continue”

Subheadings allow you to focus onan aspect of your topic, eg. drug

therapy or nursing. Use them onlyif that is exactly what you want.Otherwise ignore and click on

“continue”.

Results appear in the “SearchHistory” box

Type your second search term intothe search box and click on “Search”.

Again, you can click on the heading to seethe related subject headings.

Click in the “Explode” box to select your subject and the narrower

headings below it. Then click on “Continue”.

Subheadings allow you to focus onan aspect of your topic, eg. drug

therapy or nursing. Only use themif that is exactly what you want.Otherwise ignore and click on

“continue”.

Results appear in the Search History box.You now have two separate sets of results

which need to be combined.

Combine search results by typing inthe numbers of the searches

eg. “1 and 2”, and clicking on “Search”.

Results (articles on mental retardationand special education).

You can apply limits – eg. limitthe results to those published in

2000 onwards. Use the drop-down menus provided.

Limits include “Publication year”, “Humans” (excludes veterinary medicine articles) and “English language”(excludes foreign-language journals). After selecting

all your limits, Click on “Search”.

Search results with your limits applied.

The results display includes the publication details of each article found plus links to abstract,

complete reference (abstract and subject headings)and full text if available. Click on “Complete

reference” beside the first article.

“Complete reference” display. Scrolldown for …

… subject headings and abstract.Subject headings can give a

good idea of the subjectscovered in the article. Thosewith asterisks are the main

(“Focus”) subjects of the article.

Scroll back to the top of the page and clickon “Results display” to return to the

search results. Do not use the “Back” keyin your browser.

As you scroll through your search results, tick the box in the left-hand margin

beside any references you want to printout. Then click on “Print preview” in the

Results manager box below.

Selected search results ready to print.You can use the “Print” command in your

browser at the top of the screen.

Or you can send results in anemail. Tick the references you want and then click on “Email”

Type the email address in the “To” box and clickon “Send email”. Make sure the address is

correct or the email will be lost.

You can look at the full text of any articleswith a “full text” link in the right-hand

margin. Click on “Ovid full text”.

Full text. Print options will be available.Select PDF if available – this is a

scanned copy of the article which is best for printing.

PDF copy of article. Use the PDF print icon to print.

You can run the search in a new database. Clickon “Change database”

Click on the name of the databaseyou want to search in next.

Select CINAHL.

Select “Open and re-execute” to run your searchin the new database. This will save you typing

the search terms a second time.

The same search is run in the new database. Sometimes this doesn’t work because different

databases use different subject headings – if thishappens, just type in the search term again and

re-combine your search terms.

Further information:

• If there are articles or books which can’t be downloaded from the eLibrary, you can request them from the Maria Henderson Library document request service

• You can arrange training sessions with library staff

on doing literature searches

• We can also offer advice by phone or email – just call us if you get stuck with a search!

Maria Henderson Library

• Gartnavel Royal Hospital, Glasgow

G12 0XH

• Tel: (0141) 211 3913

• email: library@glacomen.scot.nhs.uk