Session

03: Searching the Scientific and Medical Literature

Objectives
The goals of this session are to:

Learn to find scientific and medical research

Discussion
1. As a class, we will conduct the following literature search assignment:
Find the latest research on the measles vaccination and autism.
Locate the most recent and relevant research articles
Locate a review article.

2. A comprehensive keyword search should include the following steps:
a) Selecting appropriate databases for the topic,
b) Selecting effective keywords to yield a manageable number of database records, and
c) Accessing the full text article(s).

Database
URL
Discipline
Open
Access
(Free)
AGRICOLA
http://agricola.nal.usda.gov
Agriculture and
Yes
related sciences
Agricultural
http://www.ntis.gov/products/agris.aspx
Agriculture
Yes
Sciences and
Technology
Database
(AGRIS)
Physics,
arXiv
http://arxiv.org
Yes
mathematics,
computer
science,
quantitative
biology,
quantitative
finance and
statistics
Physics and
Astrophysics
http://adswww.harvard.edu
Yes
astronomy
Data System
Biological
http://www.ebscohost.com/academic/biological-
Biological
No
Abstracts
abstracts
sciences
BioOne
http://www.bioone.org
Biological
Yes
sciences
(specializing in
small
professional
societies)
SCIENTIFIC & MEDICAL COMMUNICATION

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CAB Abstracts

http://www.cabdirect.org

Chemical
Abstracts
Service
(CAS)/SciFinder
ChemxSeer
Cochrane
Library
Cumulative
Index to
Nursing and
Allied Health
Literature
(CINAHL)
EMBASE

http://scifinder.cas.org

Google Scholar
HighWire
JSTOR
MEDLINE (via
PubMed)
PubChem
PsycINFO
Scopus
TOXNET

http://scholar.google.com
http://highwire.stanford.edu
http://www.jstor.org
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed

http://chemxseer.ist.psu.edu
http://www.thecochranelibrary.com
http://www.ebscohost.com/academic/cinahl-plus-with-
full-text

http://www.elsevier.com/online-tools/embase

http://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
http://www.apa.org/pubs/databases/psycinfo/index.aspx
http://www.scopus.com
http://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov

Applied health
and agriculture
Chemistry and
biochemistry

No

Chemistry
Medicine (clinical
trials)
Nursing and
allied health

Yes
No

Biomedicine and
pharmacology
Multidisciplinary
Multidisciplinary
Multidisciplinary
Biomedicine

No

Chemistry
Psychology
Multidisciplinary
Toxicology and
environmental
health
Multidisciplinary
Multidisciplinary

No

No

Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
No
No
Yes

Web of Science http://thomsonreuters.com/web-of-science

No
WorldCat
http://www.worldcat.org
Yes

3. Database searches:
Selecting general/versus specific terms
Boolean logic: uses operators to determine how the bits of data are comparedthey
control the information that you will receive from a search (most often used are: AND, OR,
and NOT)
Use of wildcards and quotes

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NOTE: You need to get the full text PDF of journal articles. (You wont be able to become sufficiently
familiar with a topic from reading abstracts and/or skimming the articles.

Accessing the full text of a scientific paper is easy when the database provides a link to a PDF of the full
text.

Accessing the full text can also be easier when you are on campus because often you will be granted
access to the full text if the library subscribes to the journal or collection of journals.

However, if you find an article that sounds like it would be a good resource--but you dont have easy
access--that doesnt mean to give up. I encourage you to find the best sources possible because that will
make the writing process much easier! Here are some things to do to get the article:

a) Try a keyword search of the article title from the Library website: http://www.library.txstate.edu

b) Perform a general Google search for the article. Sometimes people post the article to the Web
and you can get it there. (Yes, people sometimes violate copyright by posting the article, but this
is one resource to try.)

c) Search the Library for the Journal Title to see if the University provides access directly to the
journal title:

d) Request the article from InterLibrary Loan. (This is free, but it usually will take several days to a
week to get an article. So, this cannot be a last-minute request.)


4. Using a key article as a source:
CITATION TRACKING: Examine the list of references for other highly relevant articles
FORWARD TRACKING: Search databases for newer articles that cite the key article
RELATED ARTICLES: Search databases for related articles.

SCIENTIFIC & MEDICAL COMMUNICATION

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