ENC 3459: Speaking and Writing in Medicine / Writing In Medicine Honors

There are two ways you can search the Medline database.  See your options below:

Advanced Search 

Use the Advanced Search and History in PubMed to give you more search options

• See how PubMed is translating your search by expanding the Details.
• See and return to previous searches using Results. 
• Combine your searches using the Actions Ellipses (where you'll find AND, OR, & NOT) and the Query box.

MeSH Database

Use Medical Subject Headings (or MeSH) tell you what each article is about (think hashtags!) Use the MeSH Database to search PubMed in a very targeted way.

The MeSH Database can help you search PubMed to find 

• Particular aspects associated with your topic (what are the adverse effects of laughter therapy?)
• Only those articles where your topic is the main idea

Article Types

Find definitions of the article types (a.k.a. "publication types") used in PubMed.  Click on "Additional Filters" in the PubMed filters to see all the article types. This can help you find the best evidence available for your topic or filter out sources that might be unhelpful (books or preprints, for example).

You can get references into a reference manager in two different ways:

1. You can use a capture tool in your browser to export your citations into any citation management software program such as:
                   
    
2. Follow the 3 steps below to export citations using PubMed's Citation Manager tool:

• In your search results, use the citation check boxes to select citations. To export all the citations do not select any citations.
• From Send To, select Citation Manager.
• Import this saved file into your citation management program.

Ulrich's International Periodicals Directory can help you answer these questions.  Simply search the journal title to determine if it is peer reviewed/refereed (look for the tiny referee shirt). Ulrich's will also tell you if the title is a trade magazine or journal.