Where you look depends on your disciplinary area/content of your research question and the publication type you seek.
The Cochrane Library app is the perfect format for catching up on the latest evidence from the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. The app includes exclusive monthly issues containing the best of the previous month’s Cochrane Reviews, specially chosen by the Cochrane Library Editor in Chief.
Other features include:
Downloadable Cochrane Review content for reading offline.
A Bookmark feature for creating your own topic-based collections of Cochrane evidence.
Abridged Cochrane Reviews for the best possible tablet and phone reading experience
PsychINFO (OVID) Searching Tips:
The following screenshots show some of the web interfaces you may see in your PsycINFO search.
Searching on the first concept:
Choose subject headings
You will see search results. Scroll down to the main search box and search on your other concepts.
Once you have searched your major concepts AND them together
Clicking on Display Results brings you to the list of citations found on your search.
PsycINFO and PubMed (MEDLINE) also allow you to limit your search results by Age, Date, and other limits - see below.
Clicking on the Additional Limits button provides access to many more limits.
MEDLINE is the National Library of Medicine's (NLM) premier bibliographic database that contains references to journal articles in life sciences, with a concentration on biomedicine. MEDLINE content is searchable via PubMed and other interfaces (such as Ovid) and constitutes the primary component of PubMed, a literature database developed and maintained by the NLM National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI).
To access PubMed, access the OHSU Library and scroll down to the Quick Links in the lower left. There will be a PubMed link on the first tab.
PubMed Searching Tips
1. Try both simple and more complex searches as needed.
Example: I start searching PubMed with the first line of text, and adjust the search terms (utilizing more/different keywords and also maybe some MeSH terms) based on how relevant the results are that come back in any given search.
2. Use the filters on the left side of the screen to narrow your search. You can narrow by either using more focused concepts or narrow the number of results that come back.
3. Use the Advanced page (link to this is below the search box) to review your search. You can also search directly from this page.
4. Click the boxes beside citations and use the Send To (upper left button) to save or email citations.
5. Use the Find it @ OHSU Library full text button to connect to full text of that article via the OHSU Library catalog.
Every database has a slightly different search interface, but these basic searching techniques will help you get the most out of your search in any database.
1. Form your clinical search questions and pull out the key terms or phrases you need.
Example: What are issues to consider in utilizing opioid analgesics to address pain associated with traumatic brain injury in U.S. veterans?
2. Enter the key terms and phrases using the syntax specified by the database you are using - look for a ? or Help button, or email the librarians, to check how that particular databases uses quotation marks and other symbols.
In our example question from above, we might start by doing a keyword search, where we toss in all the concepts
Example: opioids pain traumatic brain injury United States veterans
3. Evaluate the search results and narrow or broaden as desired.
4. To narrow a search:
Example: English language, sex (female or male), publication date (last 10 years, etc.), age ranges (newborn, adolescent, adult, elderly).
5. To broaden a search:
Example: opioids traumatic brain injury veterans
Example: (opioids OR opioid analgesic OR opioid use disorder) AND (pain management OR pain OR traumatic brain injury) AND (veterans OR veterans health services OR veterans administration)
5. Now you are ready to search the citations for relevant articles.