Searching on OvidSP Medline and Embase

Information Skills 2 (Year 1): Oct 2013

Catriona, Kirsty and Stuart

library@hyms.ac.uk

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I regularly use ... if I am writing .. or looking for research evidence to support my learning.

When searching for a paper to critically appraise...

For every essay my first step is a multi-term advanced search on Embase.

Each week there is an evidence based aspect to our PBL studies, using these ... enables me to find relevant documents .. I can incorporate into my learning ..

I use... all the time to find articles, especially for SSC and CATs!Quotes from HYMS Library2013 student 3 Questions survey

EmbaseBiomedicalPharmaceuticalEuropeanElsevier22+million records7,500 active peer-reviewed journals

EmbaseBiomedicalPharmaceuticalEuropeanElsevier22+million records7,500 journals

MedlineBiomedical and healthThe ‘daddy’U.S National Library of Medicine18+ million records5,500 journalsOther formats: PubMed, WoK..

Why these and not Google?

…won’t find everything!

Only the tip of the iceberg

Results influenced by previous searches. Hint: sign out when you search..

Google scholar: easy and citation function BUT:

not so good for complex searches;

plus nobody checking has rounded coverage of a subject area…

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Where to start?Prepare before you search

Does the use of silver based wound dressing help prevent reinfection for type 2 diabetes related lower extremity based wounds?

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Define your topic

Does the use of silver based wound dressing help prevent reinfection for type 2 diabetes related lower extremity based wounds?

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Break it down into parts

Does the use of silver based wound dressing help prevent reinfection for type 2 diabetes related lower extremity based wounds?

Reinfection possible alternatives:

Re-infection

Infection

Contamination

Inflammation

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Consider phrasing and terms

Does the use of silver based wound dressing help prevent reinfection for type 2 diabetes related lower extremity based wounds?

Reinfection possible alternatives:

Re-infect* OR

Infect*

Contaminat*

Inflammat*

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Consider truncation, Boolean etc

What next?(We really do all love Google..)

Freetext for that

feel..

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Multiple fieldsVariable spellings, Colloquialisms etc

e.g. Economy Class Syndrome for DVT

But be disciplined...(Belt and braces)

…and

combine with

Subject Headingsearching

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Subject Heading searching

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MeSH

Predefined

Structured THESAURUS hierarchies: ‘ trees’

Assigned headers by a human

EXPLODE and Focus options

Use with freetext for ALL PARTS of your search

What does this

‘thesaurus tree’ look like?

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x

Use both

Freetext

and

Subject Headings

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e.g.

Do the same for all your concepts......

e.g.

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Limit at the end of a complete search

e.g. by:

Language (e.g. English only)

Publication type e.g. RCT

Date (e.g. 2000 onwards – but use with caution)

By field e.g. author, journal

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Depends ... on your information need and time available

but remember:

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Don’t over limit a search

The good search brings back a selection of relevant articles on a topic not ONE article

Scanning through results is part of the process

It takes approx 15 seconds to scan a Medline abstract

NOWSelf paced workbook

Use your York Account if possible

Model answers and examples at back

Help is here - and available via library@hyms.ac.uk

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