Database Searching (NHS) 1. Why use Databases? Databases hold bibliographic information about articles across a wide range of journal titles. You use them to search for articles within a particular subject area, but across a wide range of journal titles. Different databases will often have different interfaces and different options for you to select in order to focus your search; as well as different facilities to help you to manage your searches. NHS Evidence have developed the Healthcare Databases Advanced Search (HDAS) resource to help you to search multiple databases that we subscribe to. 2. What Databases are available? NHS users have access to a number of databases via HDAS. These include: AMED :: BNI :: Cinahl :: Embase :: Healthcare Business Elite :: HMIC :: Medline :: PsychInfo :: Use Databases to find articles 3. Accessing the NHS Healthcare Databases Advanced Search (HDAS) You can access HDAS via the NHS Evidence website at http://www.evidence.nhs.uk/nhsevidence-content/journals-and-databases. You will need your NHS Athens Username and password. Click on the option for Healthcare Databases Advanced Search Log on with your Athens username and password. You will then be able to select which database you want to search. You ll need your NHS Athens username and password to get access
You can select multiple databases, however you will be restricted to a text-only search and the number of limiting options will be reduced. 4. Using the Search Interface The search interface is common for all the databases available. This means that you only have to learn how to use one interface. The interface is very comprehensive and offers a great deal of functionality. This guide will only cover the basics to get you started. Search using Keywords Entering Text Keywords: You can enter free-text keywords into the search box. You can: Combine search terms using AND Combine search terms using OR Use truncation * Use quotes to search for a phrase Group parts of your search using parentheses ( ) Try different search terms to find the most relevant Setting Search Limits If there are too many articles you can use the options on the limits tab to focus your search. Select each limit option and then enter your limits. The number of results returned will be updated. Note that the limits available may vary depending on the database(s) that you have selected to search. Submitting your Search Criteria Search limits help to focus your search When you are happy that your search criteria will return an acceptable number of results you should click Search. Search using MeSH Terms or Mapping to the Thesaurus: You can search using MeSH terms (medical subject headings). MeSH terms are: Applied by qualified information professionals Provide consistent terminology You should use both keyword and thesaurus searching
May result in fewer terms required Do not have to be present in the title or abstract To search for a thesaurus term enter a text term in the search box, tick the Map to Thesaurus box and click Search : You will be presented with a number of thesaurus terms to select from (see example above). For the thesaurus term that you want to use: Click the + to view the list of related terms in the thesaurus tree Tick the Select box if you want to use this term Tick the Exploded box to include all the narrower related terms. This is useful to expand your search Tick the Major Descriptor box if you only want articles where this is a major term. This is useful to narrow your search Tick the Subheadings box to get a list of subheadings linked to this term. You can then narrow your search to a specific heading You can select more than one term. If none are returned go back to the search box and try a different text term. Your results will be presented in the Search History section if you want to apply limits to your thesaurus search click the Apply Limits link and select your limits as described above. Viewing Results The results of searches are added to the Search History table. Each search can be: Saved select the search by clicking the tick box next to it; then click the Save selected lines button Deleted either click the X button at the end of the search line or select the search by clicking the tick box next to it; then click the Delete selected button You can hide the search history box by clicking on the Collapse View button
To view the results click on the number in the View Results column. The results for the search you have clicked on are displayed beneath the search history box. You can: Include the abstracts in the display by ticking the Display Abstracts check box Sort the list by author, title or publication date Change the number of items displayed on a page
If the article is available via our subscriptions you will see text indicating where the article can be found. This might be via a print journal in the Health Library or via an ejournal in one of our databases click the database link to go straight to the online article. Click the article title to view more details Combining Searches: Search rows can be combined together using either AND or OR Where you want to include either of a range of similar terms you can use OR. Where a search needs to be specific to a combination of all terms you can use AND. Select the rows you want to combine; select either AND or OR and click Combine Selected Exporting Your Results: You can export your results either to a document or via email. Select the items from the results list that you want to export by ticking the box next to the article title, then choose the export options at the bottom of the page. It is probably most helpful if you select medium from the display format as this will include the abstracts; and tick the box to include the Search History so that you have a record of your searches. Saving results to a word document will allow you to copy and paste your selected articles into your bibliography
Start Another Search To start another search click the Search and Limits link at the top. 5. More Help You can attend one of our training sessions to help you to develop your database searching skills or talk to one of our training & support librarians. See our website for more details at www.keele.ac.uk/healthlibrary