Database Searching

Searching PubMed

Controlled Vocabulary

• Yes -- Medical Subject Headings (MeSH)
• Use [MeSH] field code
• Default includes all terms below specified term (exploded)
• Use [MeSH: NoExp] to not include terms below
• MeSH Database can be used to look up relevant MeSH terms

Keyword Searching

• Automatic mapping when keywords have no quotes or truncation
• Use [tiab] field code to search within titles/abstracts
• To search for an exact phrase use double quotations (" ")

Boolean Operators

• AND
• OR
• NOT

Nesting

• Parentheses () are used to nest concepts together to override the default L-to-R search

Wildcards

• Use * at the end of a word or exact phrase for truncation
• Must have at least 3 letters in root word

Proximity Operators

• Use [field:~n] to search for multiple terms appearing in any order within a specified distance of one another
• Must put terms inside double quotations (" ") to use proximity
• Proximity is only available with the following field codes: title [ti], title/abstract [tiab], and affiliation [ad]

• Proximity searching is not compatible with truncation (*)

Searching MEDLINE

Controlled Vocabulary

• Yes -- Medical Subject Headings (MeSH)
• / or .sh field code
• Default does not include all terms below specified term
• Use /exp or .xm field code to explode
• Term Finder can be used to look up relevant MeSH terms

Keyword Searching

• Use .mp field code for multi-purpose
• Use .ti,ab,kw field code to just search title, abstract, keywords
• Use double quotes (" ") to search exact phrases

Boolean Operators

• and
• or
• not

Nesting

• Parentheses () are used to nest concepts together to override the default L-to-R search

Wildcards

• Use * at the end of a word or exact phrase for truncation
• Must have at least 3 letters in root word

Proximity Operators

• The Adjacent operator (ADJ) retrieves records with search terms next to each other in that specific order

• The defined adjacency operator (ADJn) retrieves records that contain search terms within a specified number (n-1) of words from each other in any order 

Searching Embase

Controlled Vocabulary

• Yes -- EmTree
• /de field code
• Default does not include all terms below specified term
• Use /exp field code to explode
• EmTree can be used to look up relevant terms

Keyword Searching

• Use :ti,ab,kw field code to just search title, abstract, keywords
• Use single quotes (' ') to search exact phrases

Boolean Operators

• AND
• OR
• NOT

Nesting

• Parentheses () are used to nest concepts together to override the default L-to-R search

Wildcards

• Use * at the end of a word or exact phrase for truncation
• Use * to search for zero or more characters, and ? for zero or one characters
• Must have at least 3 letters in root word
• Wildcards can be used within exact phrases (eg. "metabol* disorder*") and with field codes

Proximity Operators

• NEAR/n searches for terms that are within 'n' words of each other in either direction
• NEXT/n searches for terms that are within 'n' words of each other in the order specified

Searching CINAHL

Controlled Vocabulary

• Yes -- CINAHL Subject Headings
• MH field code
• Default does not include all terms below specified term
• Use + field code to explode
• CINHAL Subject Headings tab can be used to look up relevant terms

Keyword Searching

• Use double quotes (" ") to search exact phrases
• Use TX field code to search all text
• In order to search just title and abstract must conduct searches using both TI and AB and combine them with OR

Boolean Operators

• AND
• OR
• NOT

Nesting

• Parentheses () are used to nest concepts together to override the default L-to-R search
• NOTE: CINAHL will use parentheses automatically for each search so be sure to confirm the correct location and number of parentheses

Wildcards

• Use * at the end of a word or exact phrase for truncation
• Must have at least 3 letters in root word

Proximity Operators

Searching Cochrane

Controlled Vocabulary

• Yes -- Medical Subject Headings (MeSH)
• Use the "MeSH" button from within Search Manager to lookup MeSH terms
• Enter your term in the search box -- as the term is typed, suggested terms are presented by the search; select a term from the auto-suggest list or use the term as entered
• If you already know the exact MeSH term you want to use the [mh] field code, by default, the term will be exploded
• To search a MeSH heading that is a phrase, use the [mh] code and put the phrase in quotes
• Note: only records from Pubmed, Medline and ClinicalTrials.gov have MeSH terms assigned. When searching with MeSH in CENTRAL only records from these sources will be retrieved.

Keyword Searching

• Default is set to title, abstract and keywords
• Automatic mapping when keywords have no quotes or truncation
• Use double quotes (" ") to search exact phrases

Boolean Operators

• AND
• OR
• NOT

Nesting

• Parentheses () are used to nest concepts together to override the default L-to-R search

Wildcards

• Use * to search for zero or more characters, and ? for zero or one characters
• A wildcard can be added to the right (end of term), left (beginning of term) and internal (within) a term
• Must have at least 3 letters in the root word
• Wildcards are not allowed when searching exact phrases (" ")

Proximity Operators

• NEAR finds the terms when they are within 6 words of each other in any order
• NEAR/n find the terms when they are within n words of each other in any order
• NEXT finds the terms when they appear next to each other; terms must appear in the order specified
• Use NEXT for phrase searching with wildcards

Searching PsycINFO

Controlled Vocabulary

• Yes -- Psychological Thesaurus

Keyword Searching

Boolean Operators

Nesting

Wildcards

Proximity Operators

Searching Scopus

Controlled Vocabulary

• None

Keyword Searching

Boolean Operators

Nesting

Wildcards

Proximity Operators

Searching Web of Science

Controlled Vocabulary

• None

Keyword Searching

Boolean Operators

Nesting

Wildcards

Proximity Operators

Searching Google Scholar

Controlled Vocabulary

• None

Keyword Searching

• No automatic mapping
• Include all variations

Boolean Operators

• AND
• OR
• NOT

Nesting

• Parentheses () are used to nest concepts together to override the default L-to-R search

Wildcards

• Use * at the end of a word or exact phrase for truncation
• Must have at least 3 letters in root word

Proximity Operators

• None