Get Started Searching Medline

 Welcome!

This tutorial will guide you through searching in Medline, a biomedical database from the National Library of Medicine.

You'll practice:

• developing keywords on your topic
• combining keywords to get more focused results
• narrowing down your results to the most relevant articles
  
  

Underlined Words

Clicking on an underlined word or phrase will give you a definition or in-depth explanation.

How to Navigate

Use the arrows below to navigate through the tutorial.

Keep in Mind...

There are a few important things you should know about library research before we get started.

Research Takes Time

Searching the literature is a process, not a quick task. Sometimes it will take a while to find the articles that are most relevant for your research assignment.

Be prepared to spend some time searching, and try not to get discouraged if you don't find anything relevant right away.

Practice Now to Save Time Later

We're going to practice some strategies that will help you find what you need as efficiently as possible.

If you take the time to try these strategies now, you'll save yourself time and headaches in the long run!

Librarians Are Here to Help!

The most important thing to remember from this tutorial is that the library is here to help.

If you aren't sure where to start or you're having trouble, ask the library for help. Don't wait until you're exhausted and frustrated to reach out!

Get started on your research early and reach out to us any time you need a push in the right direction.

Let's get started!

Welcome!

Welcome to the library website!

The URL for the library website is https://www.simmons.edu/library. Bookmark it now!

The library website should be your starting point when you need to find articles for assigned reading or research appointments.

Where to Search

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There are two ways to search for articles using the library website.

I. Library Search

One way is to use the Library Search bar in the middle of the page. This bar searches most of the library's resources at once, kind of like a search engine.

The upside is that it searches (almost) everything, so you only have to do one search.

The downside is that you'll probably get a lot of results that have nothing to do with public health, which can be frustrating.

II. Databases

The other way is to use a health sciences database, which allows you to do a more targeted search on your topic.

Which One Should I Use?

Both options are fine, and you can try both to see if you have a preference.

In this tutorial, we'll explore the biomedical database Medline, but you can use the same strategies in the Library Search if you prefer.

Where to Search

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Getting to Medline

We're going to start with Medline, a biomedical database from the National Library of Medicine.

Click on Databases in the purple box.

Click on the All Subjects drop-down menu and select Health Sciences.

Scroll down and click on Medline.

If you are off-campus, you'll be asked to enter your Simmons username and password.

You are now in Medline!

Note: if Medline opens in a new window or tab, click here to stay in the tutorial.

What are you searching for?

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Now that you're in Medline...

As a Simmons student, you will have research assignments that ask you to use relevant, high-quality sources, including scholarly articles. For example, you might be exploring the following topic:

Strategies for reducing race-based health disparities in the United States

What are you searching for?

2 of 5You'll get much better search results by using keywords, rather than trying to search using your whole topic or question.

There are many ways to approach every topic, and you get to decide how to focus your search.

What are you searching for?

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Using Keywords

Click New Search in the menu at the top of your screen.

First, try searching for:

health disparities race United States in the first Medline search box.

Click Search to see your results.

Breaking It Up

Click New Search again.

Now, try typing health disparities in the top search box, 

race in the second search box,

and United States in the third search box.

What are you searching for?

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Expanding Your Search

That's still a small number of search results for such a big topic, so let's try to expand the search.

There is usually more than one word or phrase that can be used to describe a single concept.  You can search for multiple terms at the same time by using the word OR.

Adding Synonyms

Let's add some synonyms to our search to see if we can get more results.

Next to health disparities (in the same search bar), try adding or health inequities.

Next to race, try adding or racial or ethnic or ethnicity.

Next to United States, try adding or America*.

Adding an * will search for all of the words that start with the letters that come before the *.  For example, America* will search for America, American, Americans, etc.

Databases don't always search for all variations of a word automatically, so using an asterisk or typing in variations of the word can give you a lot more results.

What are you searching for?

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Brainstorming Keywords

Sometimes it can be challenging to think of additional keywords to describe a concept.  When that happens, look at article abstracts and subject terms to help you come up with more keywords.

1. Using the results you already have, explore the first few articles by clicking on their titles.

2. Scroll down until you can see the subjects (Medline calls them MeSH terms -- Medical Subject Headings) and the abstract.

3. Read through these to identify additional words or phrases that describe your topic.  You might find new synonyms to add with OR or new concepts to add on their own line.

A Note about Subject Terms

Databases use a list of "official terms" to tag articles with subjects. Medline uses a list called MeSH.

Sometimes the preferred terms change over time in the real world, but it can often take a long time for subject terms to catch up.

For this reason, you might see some outdated terms used in databases.

Interested in learning more about subject terms?  Ask a librarian!

Narrowing Down the Results

If you're looking at the description of a single article, click Result List to go back to the search results page.

Narrowing Down the Results

Not every article in the result list is going to be relevant to your topic or assignment.

Luckily, databases have tools called filters (also called limits) that can help you narrow down your results to the most relevant ones.

Using Filters

When you add a filter, the results will automatically update.

Pause after each filter to assess how many results you have and how relevant they are.  If you try to add too many filters at once, you may end up with no results.

Here are some useful filters to start with.  Click on each underlined word to learn more.

Publication Date

Source Types

Subject: Major Heading

1. Adjust the Publication Date to within the last 5 years.

2. Under Source Types, check Academic Journals.

Getting to the Full Text

Once you've found what looks like a relevant article, you'll want to read the whole thing.

Full-text articles are available in a variety of ways:

1. PDFs available in Medline

Some articles are available directly in Medline.

Click New Search.

Search for the article Disparities in Diabetes Deaths Among Children and Adolescents - United States, 2000-2014 by typing or copying and pasting the title into the top search box.

Click the PDF Full Text icon to open the PDF.

Click Result List to go back to the search results page.

2. Find Full Text

If you see a green Find Full-Text button, the article isn't available in Medline, but we might have it through a different subscription.

Search for the article Trends in Susceptibility to Smoking by Race and Ethnicity.

 Click on the green Find Full-Text button.

This article is available through another subscription, so it will open on a different page.

Sometimes this link will bring you to a journal or publisher's homepage.  If this happens, look for a search bar and search for the title of the article.  Ask the library for help if you can't get to the article.

3. Interlibrary Loan

If we don't have access to the article, you can request it through Interlibrary Loan.

Search for the article Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Universal Cervical Length Screening with Transvaginal Ultrasound.

Click on the green Find Full-Text button.

If we don't have access to the article through any of our subscriptions, you'll see this Access Options page.

If you wanted to read the article, you could request it by clicking the Request via Interlibrary Loan link.

Database Tools

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Saving Articles for Later

You probably won't search for articles and write your paper in the same sitting, so you'll need a way to save the relevant articles you find to read and reference later.

Medline has a few tools that will help you do this easily.

Word of Warning

Read the sections below before you use the Add to Folder feature or copy an article's link.

These features do not work the way most people expect them to, and some students have lost hours of work because they didn't understand how these features work.  (The library doesn't have any control over these features -- we'd change them if we did!).

Don't put yourself in this position!  Please read the following sections carefully to ensure that you can get back to the articles you've saved.

If you prefer, you can also download articles and save them to your computer, Google Drive, etc.

Exploring the Tools

Click on the title of any article in Medline to see more information about the article.  The tools will be along the right side of this page.

Click here to open an article's detailed record page if you can't find one.

Click on each underlined word to learn more.

Add to Folder

Print

E-mail

Permalink

Database Tools

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Citation Resources

It's important to give credit where it's due and cite any information source you use.

The Cite and Export buttons are built into the databases to help with this process.

Remember, you are ultimately responsible for making sure this citation is correct.  Don't just trust the database -- confirm it using a citation style handbook or online resource.

The MPH@Simmons research guide has a page on how to format Chicago Author-Date citations.  Check it out!

Looking Ahead

This tutorial has introduced you to:

• searching in Medline
• developing and using keywords
• exploring some of the features designed to assist your search process

There are many more features and search options than we covered here, so definitely keep exploring!

For example, if you're not finding enough relevant articles in Medline, you can try searching in another database or add another kind of keyword like methodology.

Most importantly, there is no wrong way to search, so keep trying new words, filters, and databases.

If you start feeling stuck, contact a librarian!

Certificate

Please enter your name and email address to retrieve a copy of your completed quiz.

You can enter multiple email addresses separated by commas. If you are doing this for a class, you may need to enter your instructor's email address also.

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