MGH Guides: GC-621/GC-691 Capstone Courses: Searching with Library Tools

Discipline Based Databases

Most databases in Academic Libraries are "discipline based," meaning they specialize in the literature from a specific discipline. The features in these databases can be especially helpful when you need to create complex searches for a more comprehensive literature searches.

PubMed
The place every health professional and medical researcher goes to find literature. It includes Medline as well as more life sciences journal and book citations. This version will also link directly to Treadwell Library's eJournal subscriptions.

Ovid Medline
Medline represents the creme de la creme of health sciences literature, and although it is part of PubMed, some people prefer to search it separately.

CINAHL
The Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature can be a great supplement to PubMed for health professions literature. It contains a combination of both scholarly research articles as well as articles from trade publications.

PsycINFO
Created by the American Psychological Association, it is the premier database for psychological, behavioral, and developmental topics.

ERIC
The Education Resources Information Center is the premier database for educational literature. Good for information about school based interventions but also useful for information about school aged children, in general.

Database Tutorials

If you are unfamiliar with the databases available through the library, we recommend watching video tutorials to see the basics of how they work. The links below will take you to tutorials for the three major databases. That aid, librarians are also available to help you make sense of these tools. Just ask us!

PubMed Searching
Learn how to search the literature using PubMed.
Ovid Searching
Learn how to use Ovid to search databases such as Medline, PsycInfo and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews.
CINAHL Searching
Learn how to search CINAHL for nursing and allied health literature.

Modifying an Unsuccessful Search

Modifying an Unsuccessful Search

If you aren't happy with the list of articles your search brings back, here are some ways you might think about changing your search.

1. Too many articles / Articles aren't on topic

Make your topic more specific. You could add words, using the AND connector, to describe the
- population
- setting
- treatment or intervention
- outcome
Make the ideas within your topic more specific. For example
- "women" becomes "women over 50"
- "analgesic" becomes "opioid"
- "recovery" becomes "length of stay"

2. Too few articles

Make your topic less specific
- focus on the core ideas (remove unnecessary details)
- choose less specific terms ("exercise therapy" becomes "exercise")
Look for different search words
- brainstorm synonyms (e.g. "length of stay" = "hospital stay") or different forms of a word (e.g. therapy, therapies, therapeutic) and then use the OR connector to add them to your search.
- scan abstracts and subject headings to find out which words authors and databases are using to describe your topic.

Photo by Anant Nath Sharma, used with permission under a Creative Commons license

"Cited By"

Using "Cited By" in Google Scholar

“Cited By” can show you who has cited an article that you like to help you find more articles on your topic. If you’re working on a research paper and having difficulty with finding articles specific to your research question, question, “Cited By” can help you find more relevant articles.

How to Use "Cited By" in Google Scholar