LibGuides: Finding Information for Biosciences: Activity 1: Searching Databases

Activity Section 1

Databases - for journal articles

University of Birmingham Library Services subscribe to a number of databases which index and provide access to many peer-reviewed academic journal articles in relevant subject fields.

Access to the databases is through signing in to the Library's FindIt@Bham gateway
These articles may not always be found or available in full text on an open web search such as on Google Scholar

See 'Recommended Databases for Biosciences' in:

Library Subject guide to Biosciences - Journals
Examples: Web of Science (Science Citation Index); Ovid Medline; Proquest Biological Sciences

Watch the following Panopto video (includes subtitles) on Using FindIt@Bham to find databases.

Web of Science (Core Collection) This link opens in a new window Web of Science (previously known as Web of Knowledge) is a gateway service to several databases covering most disciplines. The ‘roaming functionality’ enables you to access it from anywhere and still be recognised as a UoB member. For this feature to continue you must log in on campus or via Findit@Bham at least once every 12 months.

NB: sign in to FindIt@Bham first to enable the database link below.

Web of Science (Core Collection) includes the Science Citation Index.

Watch the following Panopto video to see a sample search being carried out on Web of Science (and results saved to EndNote Online referencing software).

Search techniques

Web of Science / Science Citation Index relies on keyword searching – there is no cross referencing - so you must use all of the synonyms and related terms you can think of, as well as remembering alternative word endings.

Use the OR function to combine related terms, e.g. therapy OR treatment
Use the * (wildcard) to indicate alternative word beginnings or endings, e.g. *therap*
Use quotation marks for phrase searching, e.g. “learning disability*”
Use near/n for adjacency, e.g. family near/2 therap*

Undertake a topic search using keywords you have identified from your topic title. Type as much or as little into each search box as you like but be careful that each search is coherent.

View and combine previous searches by clicking on Search History, then

use OR to bring together your alternative terms / synonyms, and
AND to find results containing both/all of your search topics e.g. “brain injury” AND rehabilitation.

On the results page, use the Refining Results to the left of the screen. Try refining your search by Subject Area, Document Type (e.g. Review), or Language.

Saving results

To save your results, place a tick next to any of interest to add them to your marked list and click the Add to marked list link before moving to the next page.

Once you have ‘marked’ all the references you need, click on Marked List at the top of the screen
From there you can print, save and email results either from the initial results display or the marked lis

From the results screen or the Marked List, results can also be exported to EndNote Online (Web) referencing software, as long as you have already set up an account with EndNote Online.

Further Help and Examples

For more information on searching Web of Science / Science Citation Index, see Activity 3D in the Literature Searching guide (for Medical and Dental Sciences but relevant to all Life Science subjects).

You can also book an appointment with the Academic Skills Centre to reinforce search techniques, as well as for a range of other academic skills such as writing, note-taking and time management.

NB: sign in to FindIt@Bham first to enable the database link below.

MEDLINE (Ovid) This link opens in a new window
Produced by the National Library of Medicine in the USA, the MEDLINE database is widely recognized as the premier source for bibliographic and abstract coverage of biomedical literature. MEDLINE encompasses information from Index Medicus, Index to Dental Literature, and International Nursing, as well as other sources of coverage in the areas of allied health, biological and physical sciences, humanities and information science as they relate to medicine and health care, communication disorders, population biology, and reproductive biology. Please note that NLM data is also available via PubMed.

See below for Panopto videos from the Academic Skills Centre on a sample Medline search and saving results to Endnote Online (include sub-titles).

Medline Database (Ovid)

Introduction

Medline is part of the OVID platform which also includes EMBASE and PsycInfo. The process for searching these three databases is similar because they are all hosted on the same platform, but to get the full search functionality and therefore the best results, it is important that you only search one database at a time. You can try re-running searches on the different databases later, if appropriate.

Searching Medline

Search Medline for the keywords identified from your topic title. Make sure you are using subject headings – the search screen will default to “Map Term to Subject Heading” for you. Search for each individual term, building up a list of search lines.

If there is no relevant subject heading for your concept, you can use free text/keyword searching in the same way as in Web of Science – to do this, untick the “Map Term to Subject Heading” box, and type your search into the search box.

Use the OR function to combine related terms, e.g. therapy OR treatment
Use the * (wildcard) to indicate alternative word endings
Use adjn for adjacency, e.g. family adj2 therap*

Once you have searched for all of your concepts, you will need to combine them using OR and AND as appropriate.

Use the Limit your search options to limit your search to review articles, date range or age group. Additional limits are worth checking.

Saving Results and Search History

You can save your search, and your results can be printed, emailed or saved to reference management software using the Export button (if you are using EndNote Online, save a file to then upload: RIS format is the simplest option.

You can also save your search history by setting up an account within Ovid. Look for the Save search history button underneath your search.

Further Help and Examples

For more information on searching Medline, see Activity 3A in the Literature Searching guide (for Medical and Dental Sciences but relevant to all Life Science subjects).

You can also book an appointment with the Academic Skills Centre to reinforce search techniques, as well as for a range of other academic skills such as writing, note-taking and time management.

PubMed

Introduction - PubMed and Medline (Ovid)

Note: you may need to be signed in to FindIt@Bham to enable the following record links.

PubMed (FindIt@Bham record link)
Medline (Ovid) (FindIt@Bham record link)

Please note that the core content of PubMed is essentially the same as Ovid Medline. Ovid Medline is a subscription database, unlike PubMed which is an open-web gateway from the US National Library of Medicine (NLM): therefore, full-text links to journals subscribed by the University of Birmingham may not always be present in PubMed: however, see below for how to login to PubMed as a University member to enable linking. Full-text links are clearly available within Ovid Medline and other subscription databases available on FindIt@Bham. For more information on Medline, see the Medline (Ovid) tab in this section of the guide.

PubMed is one of a large number of databases hosted as open-web resources by the National Center for Biotechnology.

For the full selection, check the drop-down menu on the NCBI site

PubMed - UoB login

It is now possible to Login to PubMed as a University member. This should enable full-text links via the FindIt@Bham icon.

On the PubMed homepage:

Go to Login, then choose 'more login options'
Choose University of Birmingham from the list of institutions and follow instructions. You should then see your University email displayed on the PubMed page to confirm connection
For more details, see the PubMed section of the Academic Skills Centre guide Literature searching for Medical and Dental Sciences

Results from a PubMed search can be downloaded as a separate file, then uploaded into EndNote Online (or other reference management software). This also enables full-text links from the record via FindIt@Bham.

PubMed and EndNote Online

Please see our EndNote Online guide. This has information on downloading results from PubMed to upload into EndNote Online.

Sample Search on PubMed - Video

Watch this Panopto video from Academic Skills Centre, University of Birmingham. Includes sub-titles. Also covers exporting results to EndNote Online.

PubMed Support Materials

There are a number of existing support materials on using PubMed. The following are from the NCBI / NLM itself, and selected Universities.

Please be aware that any links to University sites refer to those Universities only, not to University of Birmingham.

PubMed This link opens in a new window
U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) free digital archive of biomedical and life sciences journal literature. See also: Medline. For Biosciences students, PubMed is recommended for molecular topics

NB: sign in to FindIt@Bham first to enable the database links below.

Biological Science Database
This database benefits any researcher working with algae, fungi, protozoa, or lichens, separating out all the relevant studies in the literature and organizing them in one source for easy reference. The scope of coverage includes reproduction, growth, life cycles, biochemistry, genetics and infection and immunity in man, other animals and plants. This database is a convenient and time- saving resource for microbiologists as well as research professionals in immunology, pathology, environmental research, toxicology and other related fields.
SCOPUS This link opens in a new window
Large abstract and citation database providing access to 19,000 titles from a wide range of international publishers. It contains peer-reviewed research literature and quality web sources.

Database Help Pages

Biological Science (a Proquest database)

Proquest platform supplier guide pages
- These cover any Proquest database, including Biological Science
Biological Science database - content summary (supplier guide)

Scopus (an Elsevier database)

Elsevier Scopus pages

Further Help and Examples

You can also book an appointment with the Academic Skills Centre to reinforce search techniques, as well as for a range of other academic skills such as writing, note-taking and time management.

Google Scholar

Please also see our separate guide for more on Google Scholar.

To enable full-text links to online articles available through Library subscriptions, follow the instructions for Finding Full Text, also quoted here.

This is the main route for using Google Scholar off-campus.

Log-in to FindIt@Bham
Locate Google Scholar record and note details of how to set up (see also instructions below)
Searching Google Scholar from here will result in hits with FindIt!@BHAM and FullText!@BHAM links

Set up FindIt@Bham links when searching directly in Google Scholar

Click on ‘Settings’ in the right-hand corner of the screen and click on ‘Library links’ from the left-hand menu
Type ‘Birmingham’ into the search box and click on ‘Find Library’
Tick ‘University of Birmingham –FullText!@Bham’, then press Save

You can also set preferences for the results display by clicking on ‘Search results’ and ‘Language’ in the left-hand menu.

Google Scholar and EndNote Online

Please see our EndNote Online user guide.

This has details of how to save results from a Google Scholar search to EndNote Online referencing software