1b7a Health Sciences Full Search Mode OhioLINK Database Guide for: MEDLINE AIDSLine CancerLit HEALTH Nursing & Allied Health (CINAHL) (Separate guide available) PsycINFO (Separate guide available) NOTE: Use of these databases is limited to people affiliated with OhioLINK member institutions. MEDLINE (1966 to present) covers approximately 3,600 journals in biomedicine, including the allied health fields and the biological and physical sciences, humanities, and information science as they relate to medicine and health care. It is updated monthly. AIDSLINE covers research and clinical and policy issues about AIDS from 1980 to present. It is updated quarterly. CancerLit (1984 to present) covers all aspects of cancer therapy and research. It is updated monthly. HEALTH (Health Planning and Administration) covers the international literature on health care planning and facilities, health insurance, financial management, manpower planning, and personnel administration, from 1975 to present. It is updated monthly. These databases can be used in two modes. Easy Mode, a simplified, quick-search method, and Full Mode, the advanced mode offering full searching capabilities of the databases. OhioLINK opens the databases in Easy Mode. To access Full Mode, select E, then F. This guide is for use with the Full Search Mode only. Because the terminology used in the health sciences is typically quite precise, the search software is set to "map" your term to the controlled vocabulary term used by the database. If you enter the term "heart attack," for example, the system will direct you to "myocardial infarction" which is consistently assigned to every article on this topic. After selecting a term, such as "myocardial infarction," you will be given the opportunity to limit your search to more specific aspects of the topic. By selecting "all documents" and then "all subheadings," you will not inadvertantly remove any item of possible interest. You will then have the option to restrict your topic to a given focus. 1. Set modem to 9600 baud (minimum). 2. Set terminal emulation to VT100. 3. Connect from your local library system or, using your campus network, telnet to OhioLINK: telnet cat.ohiolink.edu login: ohiolink 4. Select "Research Databases," then "Health Sciences." Select a database. IMPORTANT KEYS ^ This is the CONTROL key (also CTRL). Hold it down while pressing letter keys. ARROWS Use the arrow keys to move up and down lists. SPACEBAR Use the SPACEBAR key to select or deselect items in lists. ESC Use the ESCAPE key to back up one screen or to cancel a menu. TAB Use the TAB key to move the cursor from one area of the screen to another. Subject Search Begin a search by entering a single subject word or phrase at the Command Line, then pressing . Your entry will be mapped to a standardized medical subject heading (MeSH) and you will be prompted to further specify the search. Author search [CTRL+U] Enter the author's last name first, then first name or initial(s). Journal search [CTRL+J] Enter the journal title starting with the first word. Textword search [CTRL+R] Enter words appearing in such fields as title or abstract. Limit set [CTRL+G] This function allows you to restrict the results of a previous search using limit factors such as language, publication year, and latest update. You will be prompted to select a set, and choose a limit factor from a list of available limits. Combine sets [CTRL+N] Combine the results of two or more search sets. You will be prompted to select sets and to choose a Boolean Operator. (E.g. "and," "or." See below.). View set [CTRL+K] View documents from a search result set. You can also print or save documents from the View Set window. Print set [CTRL+P] or [CTRL+R] at View Set level Send documents from a search to the local printer. See "Saving & Printing Records from OhioLINK Health Sciences Databases" for instructions. Save [CTRL+B] or [CTRL+A] at View Set level This function allows you to (1) Save documents from a search set to a file, or (2) save a search strategy to a file. You will be prompted to choose a file type, name the file and modify default formats. Saved strategies are retained on OhioLINK for the current session only and may be transferred using a transfer protocol. See "Saving & Printing Records from OhioLINK Health Sciences Databases" for instructions. Saving and Executing a Search Strategy Saving: Choose "File/Save" or type [CTRL+B]. Select "Save Strategy" from the list of options. You will be prompted to name the file and attach comments. The file is saved on OhioLINK for your current session only. Executing: Choose "Search/Execute" or type [CTRL+A+X]. You will be prompted to open a saved strategy from the list. Database [CTRL+D] You can apply your current search or start a new search in any of these databases: MEDLINE (1966 to 1976), (1976 to 1984), (1985 to 1989), (1990 to present) AIDSLINE CancerLit HEALTH Nursing & Allied Health (CINAHL) PsycINFO (1967 to 1983), (1984 to present) FIELD QUALIFICATION Individual fields may be searched from the command line using the appropriate two-letter identifier, set off with either periods or parentheses. See the "Search/Individual Fields" menu item for a complete list of searchable fields. EXAMPLE: diazepam.ti. or EXAMPLE: diazepam (ti) [.ti. or (ti) tells the system to search for the term "diazepam" in the titles of documents] BOOLEAN AND POSITIONAL OPERATORS These operators ("and," "or," and "not" ) allow you to combine terms and sets. EXAMPLE: (pregnancy or childbirth).ti. [either term appears in titles] EXAMPLE: (pregnancy and childbirth).tw. [both terms appear as textwords] EXAMPLE: (pregnancy not childbirth).ab. [the first term, but not the second appears in abstracts] EXAMPLE: 1 or 2 [all documents from sets 1 and 2] EXAMPLE: 1 and 2 [documents that sets 1 and 2 have in common] EXAMPLE: pregnancy test.tw. [adjacency is assumed, i.e.,"pregnancy" and "test" appear side by side] EXAMPLE: (information adj5 retrieval).tw. ["information" and "retrieval" are within five words of each other in either direction] TRUNCATION You can insert special characters into a search to find terms with common roots or variant spellings. * Use $ or : to replace an unlimited number of characters. E.g. journal of pharmac$.jn. * Use # to replace one character. E.g. wom#n.ti. finds "woman" and "women" * Use ? to replace zero or one characters. E.g. colo?r.tw. finds "color" and "colour" QUESTIONS Consult library staff for help in obtaining articles and for answers to other questions. ### Written by Elizabeth Timmons, Director of Publications, OhioLINK For more information: info@ohiolink.edu Copyright 1994 Wright State University . 0