PubMed - University of Minnesota

Bio-Med Library
Orientation
Del Reed Ph.D
Bio-Medical Library
[email protected]
Bio-Medical Library
• Main subject/resource library for Public Health
• Located in Diehl Hall
– Small group and quiet study space available
• Access library resources through
– Bio-Medical Library Website:
• www.hsl.lib.umn.edu/biomed
– MyLibrary tab through the MyU Portal
– Library Course Page for PUBH8403
• https://www.lib.umn.edu/course/PUBH/8403
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
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
PubMed: What is it?
• PubMed is the publically available interface
used to search MEDLINE
• MEDLINE
– Contains over 23 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
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
PubMed Searching
• Default way PubMed searches is to look for your
search term as a keyword
• Need to be aware of alternate terminology
when searching using keywords
• Searching using MeSH (Medical Subject
Headings) uses a controlled vocabulary
• Can use a combination of keywords and MeSH
headings when searching PubMed
Medical Subject Headings (MeSH):
A Controlled Vocabulary
• How many names are you known by?
–
–
–
–
–
Full Name
First Name
Last Name
Maiden Name
Nickname/shortened name
• If you were to search for your name on the internet,
how many variations would you have to try to make
sure you are searching all possible variants of your
name?
MeSH:
A Controlled Vocabulary
• MeSH Headings describe biomedical
concepts
• Use of MeSH Headings eliminates need
for synonyms and variant spellings
– Myocardial infarction or heart attack
– Estrogen or oestrogen
Literature Searching:
Best Practices
• Write down your topic as a statement
or question
• “Chunk” out your concepts and
search each concept separately
• Utilize the MeSH Headings when
possible
PubMed Demo
What do you want to look for?
Google Scholar
• Advantages
– Easy search interface
– Searches across disciplines and sources
– Searches full text of articles
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
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)
Google Scholar:
Result Comparison
Combine Terminology
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.
Questions? Ask Your Librarian!
Del Reed
Librarian to the School of Public Health
[email protected]
612-624-3128
http://hsl.lib.umn.edu/about/staff/del-reed/