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Figure Out What You're Looking For
slides from class: z.umn.edu/N4777W
This presentation covers a review of fundamentals, an intro to searching Ovid Medline, and sweet sweet librarian magic to help make your senior project the best ever.
search map tool: z.umn.edu/searchmap
- One perfect sourceYour topic seemed so great! So why can't you find any information on it? If you're looking for an all-in-one source that addresses your topic perfectly, you might need a different approach. This video helps you think about things a different way. Plus, it has cats in it.
Find Information
- 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.
Librarian tricks in Ovid Medline
- A keyword search looks for your exact word or phrase as used by the author in the title, abstract, or other data attached to the record (subject heading words, author keywords, etc.). It does not see into the full text of the article.
- With a keyword search, think first about possible different endings (plurals, other variants). The * at the end of a stem will pick up any variations after the symbol.
- Example: breastfeeding gets only that exact term, breastfe* gets breastfeeding, breastfeed, breastfeeds, or breastfed
- Ovid does automatic phrase searching (words are searched as a phrase without you needing to type them in quotes)
- Example: neonatal abstinence syndrome
- Use parentheses for grouping. Codes attached to the end of parentheses will apply to the whole group.
- Example: ((neonat* or newborn*) adj5 (feeding or breastfeeding)).mp
- Codes and logic can nest and combine, with few exceptions. Pay attention to the logic and it will usually work.
- (((older adult* or elder* or geriatric* or senior*).ti or (nursing home* or care home*).mp) and music.ti)
- You cannot front-truncate a term. Search multiple terms if there are prefix variations to account for.
- Example: (quadripleg* or parapleg* or hemipleg*)
Keyword codes in Ovid Medline
| Truncation: * | reminisc* (reminisce, reminiscence, reminiscing) | Picks up any number of characters after the symbol |
| Single Wild Card: # |
wom#n (woman, women); organi#ation (organization, organisation) | Allows for variation in one set character |
| Optional Wild Card: ? |
p?ediatric (pediatric, paediatric); labo?r (labour, labor) |
Allows for a character to be there or not (good for British spellings) |
| Title word: .ti |
(child* or p?ediatric* or adolesc* or young adult*).ti |
Article title only |
| Multiplacement word: .mp |
(telehealth or telemedic* or virtual appointment*).mp |
Searches multiple fields: title, abstract, subject words, author keywords, and others |
| Adjacency: adjN (where N=number of words) |
((neonat* or newborn*) adj5 (feeding or breastfeeding)) |
Looks for terms within a set number of words of each other |
- CINAHL Ultimate (Nursing & Allied Health)Covers nursing and allied health journal articles, book chapters, and dissertations, as well as providing summarized evidence-based resources such as care sheets and quick lessons.
Organize Your Stuff
- Zotero (Citation tool)Start here if you're new to citation managers! Free, web-based software that is useful for organizing your research sources, creating bibliographies and sharing sources with others.
- 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 Library
The Health Sciences Library in Phillips-Wangensteen Building includes collections for medicine, nursing, public health, dentistry, pharmacy, basic sciences, and more.
Last Updated: Feb 6, 2025 11:12 PM
URL: https://libguides.umn.edu/NURS/4777W