Current Location: Section IX - Identifying the Appropriate Databases -- PubMed for Journal Articles

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SECTION IX

Identifying the appropriate databases – PubMed for Journal Articles

We need to look briefly also at PubMed:  We have already seen that Medline can be accessed from the Communicative Disorders Distance Learners: Databases and Document Delivery Home Page. There is also a link to a database called , “PubMed,” which is very similar to Medline. 

http://library.csun.edu/mhenry/de-comdis.html

Communicative Disorders Distance Learners: Databases and Document Delivery Home Page

We may have to scroll down to see it.  It is toward the bottom in the “Need Help Doing Research” Section under #4.  Both Medline and PubMed provide the same information as we used to get from the Index Medicus  Journal Index, which was typically found in book form in the Library Reference Room before the internet took hold.  Medline, as you know is accessed now through FirstSearch, for which you must have a 14 digit barcode.  We have discussed that earlier.  PubMed, however, is available to anyone on the internet.  It is not as comprehensive as Medline, but it provides some valuable assistance including specifically, the ability to search for the official subject headings associated with a particular topic. These headings are organized within the specific “tree” structure used by Medline.

We can access PubMed , as we said above, by using the link (the word PubMed) provided on the DE Com. Dis. Home Page (above).  This will take us to the PubMed Search Page.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/PubMed/

PubMed Search Page

We could start searching for our topic immediately, using our own favorite keywords (e.g., Alternative Communication Devices), but we may be more effective if we adopt the Official Subject Headings (the controlled vocabulary) used both by MedPub  (and by Medline).  We can do this by clicking on the “MeSH Database” link in the left hand section in blue under PubMed Services (see above).

PubMed MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) Gateway

On this screen, we are interested in the MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) link. This will take us to a page where we can determine (browse for) the Official Subject Heading used by Medical Journals in Medline and others.

National Library of Medicine MeSH Medical Subject Headings Home Page

Hence, we will click on the “Online Searching” link for MeSH vocabulary and arrive the following MeSh Browser screen:

National Library of Medicine Medical Subject Headings Browser

We might note in passing that we have temporarily left PubMed and are now in the National Library of Medicine Medical (NLM) Subject Headings (MeSH) page. The significance of this is that we will have to use the “back” button on our Browser to get back to PubMed when we want to conduct our reference search. In the MeSH Browser Screen we can type in a term that seems reasonable to us relative to our topic, for example, “augmentative communication.” 

There are three choices for the search: 1. Find the ‘Exact Term; 2. Find Terms with ALL Fragments; and 3. Find Terms with ANY Fragments. If we select the second option, we get nothing! That was disappointing. So we try different terms, like, “aac communication.” This time we get some very helpful information back in terms of official subject headings:

National Library of Medicine Medical Subject Headings Browser Search Results for “aac communication”

If we follow through and click on these links (like the first one, “Communication aids for disabled,”) we obtain an even wider list of subject headings (entry terms) and information about the MeSH Tree Structure.

National Library of Medicine MeSH Headings & Entry Terms.

We certainly have enough information now to start an effective search, so we can return to the PubMed Search Page by using the back button on our Browser.“ Actually, it may be more convenient to return to the Communicative Disorders Distance Learners: Databases and Document Delivery Home Page and use the PubMed link there.

PubMed Search Page

Once we are back at the search page we can put an official subject heading like, “Communication Aids for the Disabled,” and click on the “GO” link.  We will get a productive list of around 51 articles.

We can scroll down until I find an article, which is of interest to us.  If we find many, we can mark them so that later we can retrieve only those articles we want to explore further.  If there is only one, we can click on it to get more information.

PubMed Full Text Reference

If we select number 4 in this instance, we will get among other useful items, an abstract of the article, which will help us to determine if we want to pursue it further.  Unfortunately, PubMed does NOT tell us if the journal, which has the article, is subscribed to by our University Library.  But, with the information we have received, we can quickly find this out through University Library Online Catalog!  And then we can go through First Search to find the article.