Ovid Web Gateway

1. Ovid Web Gateway Juliet Ralph and Kate Williams Trinity Term 2006

2. OxLIP • Oxford Library Information Platform – your gateway to electronic resources • Library catalogues including OLIS • Bibliographic databases • Full-text electronic journals • Internet sites (subject gateways) • Reference works & Statistics http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/oxlip

4. Accessing OxLIP • Access from any Oxford University computer • If you need access from a non-University PC • Arrange before you leave Oxford • Some allow access via Athens: register for a personal Athens account • http://www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/athens • If database does not use Athens, contact OUCS to arrange remote access (VPN) to the Oxford University network. • http://www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/network/remote/

5. Which databases? Since March 2006 medical and related databases have moved from WebSpirs to Ovid: • AMED – complementary medicine • British Nursing Index • Cinahl – nursing • Embase – pharmacology • Global Health – public health & tropical medicine • HMIC – Health Management Information Consortium • IBSS – International Bibliography of the Social Sciences • Medline - medicine • PsycInfo - psychology

6. Still on WebSpirs • Biological Abstracts • CAB Abstracts • Econlit • Forest Science Database (formerly TreeCD) • Geobase • GeoRef • Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals • INSPEC - physics, electronics and computing • MathSci • PAIS International • Philosopher's Index • Serfile • SIGLE - Grey Literature • Zoological Record

7. Key features of Ovid • Default is advanced search - map term to subject heading which automatically searches the thesaurus and maps your search term to a recognised MeSH subject heading. • MeSH is Medical subject headings, used by National Library of medicine (US), as a controlled vocabulary. • Can un-tick it, to do free-text searching.

8. Key features • Search for bird flu - Lists all related headings, eg Influenza in birds • Click on link – MeSH tree – shows relationship between terms – broader and narrower terms • Offers you options to explode – means it will search for your term and any other narrower terms. Or to focus which just looks for records with your term as a major heading. Default is explode. • TIP: Look at SCOPE note – see it covers lots of possible synonyms • Sub-heading: can narrow by sub-heading or keep it broad. In this instance, keep it broad.

9. Limits and filters • Limit search: by language and publication years • even wider range of filters, specifically designed for medical research.

10. Key features • TourOxford full text button – has links through to full text, if there are any. Can also search OLIS for print copies held in Oxford, if no full text link. • Find citing articles – only searches articles in OVID’s own journal collection. NB. Science Citation Index (Web of Science) is best for cited reference searching, as more comprehensive. • You can mark results, then print, email or save them in Results manager. Direct export allows you to save to EndNote • Save search/Alert – as with most databases, you can set up a personal account – so can save searches and be alerted when new research appears.

11. Got an incomplete reference? • Find citation – You can use this feature if you know an article exists, and know some of the details, but are not sure of the exact citation. E.g. we know that Professor Edmund Rolls wrote an article on emotions in 2000. • Enter Rolls and emotion$ and 2000.

12. Better interface for biomedical & clinical searches Sophisticated Limits, eg randomised controlled trials Subject heading search is the default Nicer display Keyword search is the default Displays the most recent papers first Ovid vs WebSpirs

13. How to start your search • Choose a clear research topic. e.g. Look for the most recent literature on the effect of the H5N1 strand of the bird flu virus on European countries • Break the topic into search concepts. There are 3 main concepts to search for. What are they?

14. 7 steps to Search Success 1. Ask a detailed question e.g. What is the effect of the bird flu virus (H5N1 strand) in Europe? 2. Identify the most important words in the question for your key search terms. e.g. What is the effect of the bird flu virus(H5N1 strand) in Europe? 3. Think of related terms which could be used in relevant articles e.g. bird flu - avian flu/avian influenza Europe – European …

15. 7 steps to Search Success 4. Select a suitable database(s) for the subject area, e.g. Medline Look at the Medical Sciences section on Oxlip at http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/oxlip/ 5. Enter your search terms, using the “map terms to subject headings” feature on Ovid. This is automatically selected. 6. Use OR to connect synonyms or alternative terms e.g. #1 bird flu #2 H5N1 Combine searches #1 and #2 with OR

16. 7 steps to Search Success 7. Combine the resulting set numbers with AND connector e.g. #1 OR #2 AND #3 Europe N.B. If your search results in too many references: • Add more specific search terms • Select Focus to narrow your search • Use Limits • Try Clinical Queries (available in the Limits)

17. Top tips for searching • Choose your search terms carefully, considering synonyms and alternative terms. • Where possible, make use of controlled vocabulary, using thesauri and subject headings (MeSH) when you search. • Start off simply, searching for terms separately and then combining them, using Boolean operators. • Use the limit features to find specific publication types, e.g. meta-analyses, randomised controlled trials etc. • When you find some useful research, use the Web of Knowledge’s cited reference searching to see who has cited the article and move your research forward in time.