1. Searching PubMed Anne Beschnett, MLIS Bio-Medical Library besch015@umn.edu

2. Bio-Medical Library Provides resources and services to help you with your research and information needs Access library resources through –Bio-Medical Library Website: www.hsl.lib.umn.edu/biomed –MyLibrary tab through the MyU Portal –Library Course Page for PUBH8400 https://www.lib.umn.edu/course/PUBH/8400

3. Access to Electronic Resources Electronic Resources –Access to several health-related databases and indexes –Over 3,00 electronic journal subscriptions –Growing e-book collection You can access almost all of our electronic databases and resources from off-campus If we don’t have something (either online or in print), use Interlibrary Loan

4. Off-Campus Access Your x.500 (email user name and password) is your key to accessing these resources You will be prompted for your x.500 when you try to access one of our licensed resources

5. PubMed: What is it? PubMed is the publically available interface used to search MEDLINE MEDLINE –Contains over 22 million bibliographic citation records –Covers all specialties of clinical medicine, public health, nursing, veterinary medicine, allied health and some basic biosciences –Coverage from1950 - present –Primarily citations from scholarly journals Small percentage from in-scope newspapers, magazines and newsletters –5,200 worldwide journals in 37 languages

6. PubMed PubMed is the free, web-based interface to MEDLINE database…BUT It is an abstract database – only searches the abstract and not the full text Get to PubMed via library links to see Find It menu to connect to full-text

7. PubMed Search Default way PubMed searches is to look for your search term as a keyword, which looks for the word in the title, abstract, and subject headings Need to be aware of alternate terminology when searching using keywords Searching using MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) uses a controlled vocabulary Eliminates need for synonyms or variant spellings Can use a combination of keywords and MeSH headings when searching PubMed

8. Organize Your Search Topic Write down your topic as a statement or question “Chunk” out your concepts and search each concept separately

9. Search Tips Add concepts one at a time -- this gives maximum flexibility later to combine concepts Use Boolean Operators (AND - OR) –The more concepts you AND together the fewer results you will receive –The more concepts you OR together, the more results you will receive –Boolean Operator Cheat Sheet: –www.hsl.lib.umn.edu/biomed/help/boolean-operatorswww.hsl.lib.umn.edu/biomed/help/boolean-operators Use the Advanced Search link to combine sets

10. Search Tips Use “*” as truncation symbol Too many results? Try using “Limits” Too few results? Think broadly, brainstorm synonyms Create an account in myNCBI to save searches and citations for long term storage and to set up an email auto-alert to stay current on research interests

11. Google Scholar Advantages –Easy search interface –Searches across disciplines and sources –Searches full text of articles

12. Google Scholar Disadvantages –Don’t know exactly what it is searching –Searching is by exact word match only –no subject headings to provide context –Only basic limits available – no age groups –Can’t combine sets, save searches, or send more than 1 citation/per time to RefWorks

13. Google Scholar Great tool – but use it as a supplement to, and not a replacement for subject indexes Search tips –Use the Advanced search feature –Use quotation marks around phrases –Search with alternate terminology, using parenthesis and OR (“high blood pressure” OR hypertension)

14. Google Scholar: Result Comparison

15. Combine Terminology

16. Google Scholar Remember to ALWAYS access through the Bio-Medical Library, or set your preferences in Google Scholar to indicate you are affiliated with the University of Minnesota. This will allow FindIt links and RefWorks export links to appear in your results.

17. Questions? Ask Your Librarian! Anne Beschnett Librarian to the School of Public Health besch015@umn.edu 612-625-9603 http://hsl.lib.umn.edu/about/staff/anne-beschnett