PubMed
AN INTRODUCTION
Purpose of Class
 Understand what PubMed is
 Know when to use it
 Know how to conduct a basic search
 Understand how to use MeSH terms
 Know how to find full text of an article
What Is PubMed???
PubMed Is…….
 A freely available database
 Created by the National Library of Medicine
 Citations to scholarly literature
 Covers fields of biomedicine and health
 Big! Contains over 21 million citations, many
with abstracts
PubMed Is….
 Includes all of the content from MEDLINE
 Also includes citations to articles not yet in
MEDLINE (very old, or very new articles not yet
indexed)
 Includes selected articles in fields not covered
by MEDLINE such as astrophysics
 Coverage from 1946-Present
Why Should I Use PubMed???
Why Should I Use PubMed???
 High quality information; much of content peer-
reviewed
 Up-to-date; content added almost daily
 Hot-off-the-press citations to articles not yet
published or indexed in MEDLINE
 Learn how to use now--most nurses in clinical
settings do not have access to subscription
databases like CINAHL (Dee & Stanley, 2005)
How Do I Get There???
Accessing PubMed…..
 Always(!) access through Carroll College library
webpage
 Access through Carroll College provides
customized version
 Customized version contains links to additional
full-text access for Carroll College users
 On campus or off campus access
On Campus Access
On Campus Access
Off Campus Access
How Do I Find Stuff????
Basic Search
Basic Search
Basic Search
Basic Search
Basic Search
Basic Search
Basic Search
Rheumatoid Arthritis
Sinus Infections
Rheumatoid Arthritis
Sinus Infection
Basic Search
HOW DO I KNOW WHAT TERMS
TO USE?????
MeSH
 Medical Subject Headings
 Subject terms assigned to articles by PubMed
indexers, specialists who read article
 Highly specific—over 26,000 terms
 Excellent way to search PubMed
 But…MeSH only works for citations that have been
indexed, so you will miss some citations searching
with MeSH
MeSH
MeSH
MeSH
MeSH
Beyond Basic Search
WHAT IF I GET 114,629
RESULTS?
Beyond Basic Search
Advanced Search
Filters
Filters
A Few Extra Search Tricks
Boolean Searching
 Based on mathematical logic
 Uses the words AND, OR, and NOT to connect
search terms
 These words (Boolean operators) can either limit
or expand your search
Boolean Searching Using AND
Rheumatoid
Arthritis
Sinus Infections
Boolean Searching Using OR
Rheumatoid
Arthritis
Sinus Infections
Boolean Searching Using NOT
Rheumatoid
Arthritis
Sinus Infections
Truncation
 Shortcut for finding all forms of a word
 PubMed uses the asterisk character (*) for truncation
 Nurs* would find nurse, nurses, nursing…..
 Expands search
 Be careful! Truncation turns off automatic term
mapping in simple search—check search details!
Proximity Searching
 Searches for words adjacent to each other
 PubMed only allows for exact phrase
searching—words next to each other in exact
order
 Use quotation marks to enclose search phrase—
”Endonasal activity in WG is associated with”
Additional Search Strategies
Additional Search Strategies
Citation Matcher
Managing Results
I D I D A G R E AT S E A R C H — N O W
W H AT ? ? ?
Managing Results
Finding Full Text of an Article
Finding Full Text of an Article
Finding Full Text of an Article
Finding Full Text of an Article
InterLibrary Loan
 If we don’t have full text, we can get it from
another library
 InterLibrary Loan (ILL) form is available on
library homepage
 Fill in information using PubMed record
 Delivery time for articles is often less than a
week (but not always—plan wisely!)
Managing Citations
Managing Citations
 Clipboard holds information for 8 hours
 Clipboard best for short sessions
 My NCBI provides permanent storage of citations
 My NCBI has many other helpful personalization
features
 My NCBI very useful if use PubMed regularly or for
big projects
HELP!!
HELP!!
A Quick Review
 Always access PubMed through the Carroll
College library homepage
 On Campus of Off Campus Access
 Ensures optimal full text access
A Quick Recap
 PubMed is the premier citation database for
biomedical and health fields
 Free
 PubMed comprised of citations, many with abstracts
 Much of content is peer-reviewed
 Some citations have link to full text
A Quick Recap
 Basic search can be tricky—check Search
Details
 Searching with MeSH terms ensures relevant
results
 Additional helpful search tools such as filters
and advanced searching
A Quick Recap
 Use the Carroll College filter for full text access
 Look for the “Full Text” icon with a purple “C”
 Many options for managing results with
clipboard (short term) or My NCBI (long term)
Web of Science
AN INTRODUCTION
Web of Science
 Citation database
 Multidisciplinary content; strong in sciences
 Includes citations to over 12,000 peer-reviewed
journals
 Strength is citation analysis
Web of Science vs. PubMed
 PubMed and WOS contain overlapping coverage,
but each database has unique content
 WOS does not have a controlled vocabulary;
relies on keyword searching
 WOS allows users to see cited references of an
article as well as how often the article has been
cited in other scholarly works
Web of Science
Web of Science
Web of Science
Web of Science
Web of Science
Web of Science
Web of Science
Web of Science
Web of Science
Web of Science
Web of Science
Web of Science
Web of Science
Web of Science
Web of Science
Peer Reviewed Journals
Peer Reviewed Journals
Peer Reviewed Journals
Peer Reviewed Journals
Peer Reviewed Journals
Finally…..
 PubMed and Web of Science are powerful tools
with many more features
 Takes some practice
 Please ask librarians for help—that’s why we are
here!
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Christian Frazza (x4344)
Heather Navratil (x4343)
Terence Kratz (x5450)
Karla Hokit (x4493)
Thanks!!!!
References
 Dee, C., & Stanley, E. E. (2005). Information-seeking behavior of nursing students
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and clinical nurses: Implications for health sciences librarians. Journal of the
Medical Library Association, 93, 213-222. Retrieved from
http://www.mlanet.org/publications/jmla/
National Center for Biotechnology Information. (2012). PubMed. Retrieved from
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/
Thomson Reuters. (2011). Web of Science. Retrieved from
http://thomsonreuters.com/content/science/pdf/Web_of_Science_factsheet.pdf
U.S. National Library of Medicine. (2010). PubMed: MEDLINE retrieval on the World
Wide Web. Retrieved from http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/factsheets/pubmed.html
U.S. National Library of Medicine. (2010). What’s the difference between MEDLINE
and PubMed? Retrieved from
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/factsheets/dif_med_pub.html
U.S. National Library of Medicine. (2011) Medical Subject Headings (MeSH).
Retrieved from http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/factsheets/mesh.html
U.S. National Library of Medicine. (2011). MEDLINE. Retrieved from
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/factsheets/medline.html
U.S. National Library of Medicine. (2012). Data, news, and update information.
Retrieved from http://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/revup/revup_pub.html