How to find literature about any veterinary topic for your EBCR or thesis: FIND: Search & Select

1. Choose one element in one (sub-)question of your Search Profile, and perform one or several 'OR' searches for this single element

2. Cluster (if not yet performed in Step1) the Results of all 'OR' searches  for this element; this means that all publications will be found in which at least one of the used terms occur. Example:  horse OR equine OR equus

3. Repeat Step 1 and 2 for the other elements in the question

4. Combine the Results of the clustered 'OR'-searches

• with the opereator AND: this means that after this action  you will only have publications in which both terms occur. Example: [horse OR equine OR equus] AND colic.
• with the operator NOT: the term must not occur. Example: drugs NOT surgery

 

Please take note: Most systems use an implicit AND operator when you just enter two or more adjacent terms.

 

Use the available tools!

Do not type the operators yourself, but make use from OR, AND or NOT in the ADVANCED SEARCH options and the SEARCH HISTORY 

 

When you perform the 'OR'-searches, you can also use specific operators:

• to search for 'phrases' (exact combinations of words);
• to search in one go for singular, plural and/or conjugations;
• to search for different spellings;
• to search in specific fields.

For example:

 

"..."	By setting apostrophs you tell the search engine that terms must occur in this exact order.	"heart attack" gives only publications with this phrase  (in All Search fields)
...*	By putting an asterisk behind the 'trunk' of a word, you search by all possible endings	In PUBMED: neurolog* = neurologic, neurological, neurologist(s), neurology
...?...	By placing a question mark in a word, you tell the search engine that you are not sure about one or more characters / the correct spelling.	In CAB ABSTRACTS: tumo?r = tumor, tumour
...[XX]	By adding a field code, the system will only search in this  field(s)	In PUBMED heart attack [TIAB]  = gives only publications with this terms in the Title and/or Abstract

 

 

Be aware of the pitfalls!

• Not all Search engines use all types of additional operators
• A certain operator can be used differently by different Search engines
• So, using such operators can have has different effects in different systems.

 

Please take note: In PUBMED, setting apostrophs - or adding a field code -  will stop the automatic translation of your search terms into MeSH terms!

 

Search with Automatic Term Mapping

1. Start with typing ONE term from your Search Profile (you may use another, pre-suggested term, if applicable)

See in the right hand column the 'Search details' how PubMed has used the given terms:

• ... the MeSH-terms that has been added for searching

• ... in which 'Fields' (of all indexed publications) has been searched

Do you observe new terms? Add them to your profile!

2. Repeat the above Step-1 with other terms for the same element in your profile, if these were not yet used by PubMed in Step-1.

3. Cluster the separate Search Results for this Element with 'OR'

• Choose [Advanced]; you will see the [History] of all separate queries
• Add to the Builder all applicable queries by hitting [Add] 
• Choose in the Builder [OR] (in stead of the default setting 'AND') and hit [Search]

4. Repeat Steps-1-2-3 with all other elements of your question

5. Combine the clustered Search Results of two or more elements 

• Choose [Advanced] once more; you will also see the [History] of your compound queries
• Add the applicable compound queries to the builder by hitting [Add]
• Hit [Search]; by default, the queries will be combined with [AND]

Search Advanced with Keywords:

1. Choose [Advanced Search] on the homepage of the (Ovid-)platform

• Select [Keyword]
• Type one of the terms from your Search Profile
• Check the box [Map Term to Subject Heading] ad hit [Search]
• If the Thesaurus shows a logical [Subject Heading] then hit the word or phrase

• View Used for: are all terms for this element included? (if not yet, see below)
• View Narrower Terms: is one or more of them also applicable? Check their [Explode] boxes. Do you want to include all narrower terms? Check the [Explode] box of the umbrella Subject Heading
• NOW: Perform the search: hit [Continue]; the [Search History] will show the query and the Results.

2. Repeat this term mapping with other terms for the same element in your profile, if these were not yet mentioned in 'Used for'

3. Cluster all separate Search Results for the respective element with OR

• Check in the [History] all separate queries for this element
• Hit [Combine with OR]

4. Repeat Steps-1-2-3 with all other elements of your question

5. Combine the clustered Search Results of two or more elements.

• Check the clustered results in the [History]
• Hit [Combine with AND]