Searching EBM Reviews Databases
Getting Started
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From the “Library Homepage”, select “E-Databases” category and then
select “OVID Gateway Access”.
“Database Selection” Screen appears with a list of available databases.
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To search one database
Click on the desired databases name to select that database for searching
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To search more than one database
You can perform one search in multiple databases by selecting more than one
database
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To Find out more information about a specific database, click on the
the left of the database name
Basic Mode Searching
You can use the Basic Mode for quick searches, if your keyword is new to the
literature, or very specific, or there is no proper MeSH
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Search by keyword
- The Keyword search looks for the exact term in the frequently
searched terms.
- The .mp after the searched term, indicates that the search was
executed in the Title, Original title, Abstract and subject heading fields
- Enter the requested keyword, either “word” or “phrase” in the
keyword box.
- Leave the author field blank if you want to search by keyword only.
- Click “Search” button.
Search by Author
- Enter the author’s last name in the author’s box followed by a space and
the first initial (if known).
- Leave the keyword field blank if you want to search by author’s name
only.
- Click “Search” button.
Advanced Mode Searching
You can use the Advanced Mode Searching to perform complex searches
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The following list describes the important OVID Icons features
: Allows you to change databases with the option to reexecute your search in the new database.
: This icon will get you into OVID Online Help Manual
: Will Log you Off from the system.
Saved Searches/Alerts : Allows you to save your search strategy to retrieve it later.
: Allows you to search for a specific author
: Allows you to search for the term or phrase in the title of an
article
: Allows you to retrieve articles from specific journal
: Allows access to search tree structure, the permuted index, scope
notes, explode searching and subheading lists
: Allows you to select additional limits not listed in the main search
page.
You have various options to search with the Advanced Search Mode
Keyword Search
The default display for the advanced mode search is the Keyword search. You can
use the Keyword Search in both EBM Reviews and Medline databases.
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Enter the word or phrase to be searched.
Searching Tips
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To search for various forms of the keyword, you can truncate the word to
its root. Type the ($) dollar sign at the end of the word (Search with
Truncation), for example, the search for “child$” will retrieve documents
for child, children, childhood, childbirth, …etc.
You can use the (?) symbol to retrieve words with variant spellings and
plurals, for example, the search for wom?n will retrieve results containing
both words woman and women.
You can narrow your search by using a phrase instead of words by
putting your phrase between Quotation For example, Drug therapy”
Use Boolean Logic Operators either to narrow your search (by using
AND) or expand your search (by using OR)
Select Limits depending on your requirements to get precise search
For Publication Years, select a range of publication years from the pulldown menu.
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- First search was executed using truncation and phrase (dabet$ and “drug
therapy”) without mapping terms.
Limiting the Search
You can limit your search in many ways listed under the Limits category. Limit
options differ from one database to another, as shown below.
ACP Journals Limits
Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trial (CCTR)
Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (CDSR)
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Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects (DARE)
Medline
Searching Using Controlled Vocabulary (Subject Headings)
Searching the databases using Subject Headings will retrieve more related, precise
and accurate results
How to Search the EBM Reviews Databases
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Unlike Medline, EBM Reviews databases do not have the "Mapping Terms"
option.
The default is searching Title, Abstract, Textword, Keyword, and caption text.
To search for Subject Heading, select "Search Tools" from the "Main Search
Page". From "Search Tools" page, you can direct a subject search through a
specific tool, as shown below.
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The Tree tool was selected to perform search
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List of Subject Headings will be retrieved, with options to select more than
one and combine them with "OR" or "AND"
Click “Explode” to include the relevant terms in your search.
Click “Focus” if you wish to retrieve only records which your term is the
major focus of the articles
Click on the Pull down menu at the top to combine your selection using
Boolean Operators and to retrieve documents upon your selection.
Click the button next to any Subject Heading to see the definition of
that term.
Searching Medline
Unlike EBM Reviews Databases, you can get accurate and relevant records in
Medline by mapping the term to Medical Subject Headings
Mapping Display
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Type the term “diabetes” in the keyword search box
Click on “Map Terms to Subject Heading” checkbox
Click “Search”.
Mapping will suggest a list of subject headings related to your topic, which will
retrieve more relevant records accordingly.
A list of subject headings for the term “diabetes” are shown below
- Click the checkbox to select any of the Subject Headings ( you can select one or
more subject headings at once)
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Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 was selected, click continue
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A tree of Subheadings for Diabetes Mellitus Type 2 will be displayed.
Select the proper subheading
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Click “Explode” to include the relevant terms in your search.
Click “Focus” if you wish to retrieve only records which your term is the
major focus of the articles
Click on the Pull down menu at the top to combine your selection using
Boolean Operators and to retrieve documents upon your selection.
Click the button next to any Subject Heading to see the definition of that
term
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A set of 127 records retrieved from the previous search
Displaying Results
Once you performed the search and get a suitable set of records. Click on Display
to the right of the set to be viewed. The results appear immediately in groups of 10
titles at a time, scroll down to see the titles.
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Click the “Customize Display” button (located above the results list), to
modify the display of results by browsing selected specific fields. Click
“Reset Display” to go back to default.
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The Bibliographic Citations will be displayed in the brief citation format
by default.
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To mark the article(s) for later display, save, print or e-mail action, click
the checkbox which is located to the left of the document.
There are additional links to the right of each record. Citations can include
all or some of the following links
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Abstract : Includes short citation and abstract of the article
Complete Reference : Link to bibliographic citation of the record, in
addition to Abstract and Subject Heading.
OVID Full Text : Link to full text of documents available through OVID.
Full Text : Link to full text of the article (Open Access Journals through
the Net)
Article Review : Links to Review in ACP Journals or DARE
Topic Review : Links to a Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews
(CRSR)
Find Similar : Search for related articles
Find Citing Articles : Link to articles available through OVID databases
that cite the displayed article.
The Results Manager
The “Results Manager”, at the end of the Display page, allow you to print, save or email citations.
“The Results Manager” includes the following categories:
Results
: To select either “whole records displayed on each page” or only the
selected and marked records.
Fields
: To choose the fields to be included and displayed for each article.
Result Format: Identify the appearance of the citation, click “Include Search
History” box to get the search strategy.
Sort Keys
: To sort the citation by “Primary Key” which is the main sort option
and the “Secondary Key” which is used if you have citation with the same primary
key, so it will be sorted by the secondary key.
Actions
 Display : To display results
 Print Preview : To print results using your Web Browser
 Save : To save the results
 E-mail : Type the e-mail address and a message and then send.
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If you are interested in one of the articles, click to retrieve the fulltext
The Full text article will be displayed with the "Full Text Navigational Box" that
includes:
Link options to the abstract, Complete Reference, Fulltext (PDF), …etc.
Hyperlinked Outline of the article that lets you view the major topics of the Full
Text you are viewing and quickly link to topics of interest.
Options at the top of the full text article include
Print Preview : To Print the article
Save Article Text : To save the complete text of the article (graphics will no be
saved)
E-Mail Article Text : To e-mail the article to a specific e-mail address
E-Mail Jumpstart : To send a link of the citation to an e-mail address
Full Text (PDF) : To open a PDF format of the article, when available
Options Related to the Cochrane Database of systemstic Reviews Groups
About this Group : Opens an information display on which you can read about the
Performed the systematic review of the topic .
Group Table of Contents : Opens a list of all topic reviews or protocols performed
on a specific topic.
Cochrane Groups : From the " Group Table of Contents" page, click on Cochrane
Groups to retrieve a list of all group with their groups information and table of
contents.
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Searching the databases by Author, Title, or Journal
You can search by Author, Title, or Journal by using the icons above the search box
in the Main Search Page
Author
: To search for records by a specific Author Name. Enter the Author's
Last name and then the initial.
Title
: To search for a word or phrase in the title of the article only
Journal
: To retrieve articles published in a specific journal.
AUTOALERT Service
The AutoAlert service allows you to be notified of recent articles added to the
databases on specific topic according to your saved search. Notification will be
sent to you by e-mail
Steps to get the AutoAlert Service
 Once your search is performed successfully, and you get the accurate results
 Click on "Save Search / Alert" option
 "Name the search" and type comments in the displayed form (as shown
below)
 Under "Type" , select "AutoAlert SDI" option
 Type the E-Mail address, and fill the required data in the form especially the
scheduling options.
 Click Save, the AutoAlert will be saved. When the database adds new articles
on your topic, you will be notified and list of recent articles will be sent to you
directly by e-mail.
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