PubMed search
Figure out what you're looking for
slides from class: z.umn.edu/N4205W
search map tool: z.umn.edu/searchmapBSN
This presentation covers the fundamentals of forming your question, how searches work which helps you understand why you get the results you do, and an intro to searching Ovid Medline. It's wrapped in sweet sweet librarian magic to help make your project the best ever.
Find information
Tools: Good Enough
Start here for easy-to-search databases that are often a good starting point for health sciences questions.
- Libraries SearchSearch the University of Minnesota Libraries to find books, scholarly journal articles, news, magazines, media, and other items in the University's collection. View this tutorial to learn how to go from a general idea to a very precise set of results of journal articles and scholarly materials.
- Google Scholar (Setup connection to get to PDFs)Use Google Scholar to find articles from academic publishers, professional societies, research institutes, and scholarly repositories from colleges and universities. If you are using from off-campus access, change the "Library Settings" to University of Minnesota Twin Cities. Look for the "FindIt@U of M Twin Cities" links in your Google Scholar search results to access full text and PDFs. View this tutorial to learn how to go from a general idea to a very precise set of results of journal articles and scholarly materials.
Tools: Better
If you need a tool with more precision, try this next.
- PubMedSearches MEDLINE, which is the primary source of journal articles for the health sciences (fields of medicine, nursing, dentistry, veterinary medicine, public health, health care systems, and basic sciences). Coverage is from the 1940s to the present. View this tutorial to learn how to go from a general idea to a very precise set of results of journal articles and scholarly materials.
Tools: Best
If simpler tools don't get you what you need, these tools have a higher initial learning curve but offer advanced functionality.
- Ovid MEDLINESearches MEDLINE, which is the primary source of journal articles for the health sciences (fields of medicine, nursing, dentistry, veterinary medicine, public health, health care systems, and basic sciences). Ovid MEDLINE is optimized for advanced literature searches. Coverage is from the 1940s to the present.
Organize Your Stuff
- Zotero (Citation tool)Free, web-based software that is useful for organizing your research sources, creating bibliographies and sharing sources with others.
Zotero Guides
Documentation on getting started with and using the features of Zotero.
- Citation Managers (e.g. Zotero, EndNote Online, etc.)Citation managers are software packages used to create personalized databases of citation information and notes. They allow you to: import and organize citation information from article indexes and other sources; save links to pdfs and other documents; format citations for your papers and bibliographies using APA and many other styles; and include your own notes.
Get Help
If you're having a hard time, ask for help! Librarians can make your life much easier.
- Liz Weinfurter (your liaison librarian)I will help you! Get in touch!
- Health Sciences LibraryThe Health Sciences Library in Phillips-Wangensteen Building includes collections for medicine, nursing, public health, dentistry, pharmacy, basic sciences, and more.