Electronic Databases

Guide to Searching Ovid Databases

Searching Guidelines | Retrieving Articles | Output Options

General Guidelines
Description	Health related databases including citations and abstracts, with links to some full-text articles.
Availability	Available at all Library workstations. Remote access for Upstate faculty, students and staff available through LEAP.
Simultaneous Use	OvidWeb - 12 users.
Timeouts	Databases will timeout after several minutes of inactivity.
Exit Instructions	Click on Logoff to exit the database.

Searching Guidelines
Default Search	Most Ovid databases, such as MEDLINE and CINAHL, default to a subject search; others default to a keyword search. When the subject search is the default, a box labeled "Map Term to Subject Heading" will be displayed and checked.
Subject Search	Enter a single term or phrase in the search box. A corresponding list of subject headings will be displayed. Select the appropriate subject heading. (Note: If there is no appropriate subject heading, select keyword searching.) When applicable, a list of subheadings will follow. Select any or all as appropriate. Most effective search strategy: search each concept individually and then combine searches.
Combining Searches	To combine multiple searches/concepts, click on the Combine icon. Select the search sets to be combined, then choose the appropriate Boolean operator: AND or OR.
Previous Searches	The last 4 searches are automatically displayed. To view the complete list, click on Expand.
Limit Search	Use Limit boxes on the main search screen and/or click on the Limit icon to open database-specific boxes for further limits. FastMed allows limiting to journals available in the Health Sciences Library.
Keyword Searches	Enter a term or phrase in the search box. (Note: To bypass mapping to subject headings when a subject search is the default, remove the check the box indicating "Map Term to Subject Heading.")
Boolean/Proximity Operators	For Keyword searching, Ovid accepts and, or, not, adj, adjn (n=number of words allowed between search terms). Adj is the default operator for keyword searches.
Truncation	A dollar sign ($) at the end of a root word will retrieve all possible suffix variations of a root word. (May add a number to indicate a maximum number of letters to follow.)
Wildcards	The pound sign (#) can be used within or at the end of a query word to substitute for one required character. (Eg., wom#n retrieves woman or women.) The question mark (?) can be used within or at the end of a query word to substitute for 1 character or no characters. This is useful for retrieving documents with British and American word variants, eg., colo?r. (Note: This will not work if there is only one letter in front of the wild card, eg., f?etal.
Field Searching	Click on the Author, Title, or Journal icons to search for names or words in the title. Click the Search Fields icon for searching additional fields.
Command Line Searching	Allows advanced searchers to bypass the button bar. Consult Ovid Help for details.
Special Features	Click on Change Database to initiate a search in a different database. This feature also allows the user to repeat the same search in a different database, however, all databases do not recognize the same subject headings. Save Search History allows the user to temporarily save and recall the search strategy. Click on the Tools icon to view the subject thesaurus or scope notes. (Note: When searching, scope notes are indicated by the red and white "i" symbol; clicking on a subject term link will display the thesaurus.)

Retrieving Articles in Electronic Journals

Availability

Journals@Ovid provides full text access to selected electronic journals.

Finding a Known
Article

Select Journals@Ovid Full Text from the list of Ovid databases.
Select the Browse Journals icon.
Select Browse Journals by Name
At Journals A-Z, click on the lletter corresponding to the title of the journal.
Scroll to the journal name, and click on Issues List.
Click on the link to the Table of Contents for the desired issue.
Locate the article from the Table of Contents and click on Ovid Full text.

Additional Options

Use the Title icon to search for words or a phrase in the article title.

Search for the author's name and journal title, then combine.

Output Options
Marking Records	Click in the box next to a citation number from the Titles Display list, or, while viewing the "Complete Reference" or "Abstract."
Displaying Marked Records	From the Citation Manager at the bottom of the Titles Display, choose options for citations and fields. (Leave "Citation Format" and "Save Format" as they are.)
Print, Save, or E-mail Citations	Mark records as above, then: Print: Display as above, then click on browser print button. Email: Select "Email" under Action. Save: Select "Save" under Action. Save to disk (A drive) only.
Displaying & Printing Full Text	Before printing from browser window, select "Print Preview" from the Output box and choose options for display.