Video
Transcript
Let’s say we want to do a search in Ovid Medline that combines keyword searching and controlled vocabulary searching to perform a comprehensive search for each key concept.
(sepsis[TI, AB, KF] OR septicemia[TI, AB, KF] OR “blood poisoning”[TI, AB, KF] OR sepsis[MeSH])
AND (disparit*[TI, AB, KF] OR equit*[TI, AB, KF] OR health status disparities[MeSH])
This example search has two main concepts: sepsis (also called blood poisoning) and health status disparities (differences in health between groups based on factors like income, age, ethnicity, location, or gender).
For the sepsis concept, the search looks for sepsis, septicemia, or blood poisoning in the title [TI], abstract [AB], or keyword [KF] fields and also includes the controlled term sepsis as a Medical Subject Heading or MeSH. These are combined with OR.
For the health status disparities concept, the search looks for words starting with disparit or equit in the title, abstract, or keyword fields and also includes the controlled term health status disparities as a MeSH term. These are also combined with OR.
Finally, the two main concepts are combined with AND to retrieve records that include both.
In most databases, we can use the Search History function to input a complex search like the above. The process for doing so in Ovid Medline is described below.
[A webpage displaying the Ovid Medline search interface appears.]
Step 1: Enter the keyword portion of the sepsis concept using the Advanced Search option and the .ti,ab,kf. field code. The .ti,ab,kf. field code tells the database to look for the keywords in the Title, Abstract, and Keyword Heading Word fields. Field codes can be looked up in the Ovid Database Guide. The resulting search query will be: (sepsis OR septicemia OR "blood poisoning").ti,ab,kf. Click Search.
[The Search History section near the top of the webpage is highlighted.]
Notice that the search now appears in the search history as Search #1, and that it has over 159,000 results. The results list has appeared below the search form, but let's ignore that for now.
Step 2: Input the controlled vocabulary portion of the sepsis concept using the Advanced Search option and the forward slash: sepsis/. Click Search.
Notice that the search now appears in the search history as Search #2, and that it has almost 80,000 results.
Step 3: Select the checkboxes beside searches #1 and #2 and click the Combine with OR button.
Search #3, combining searches 1 and 2 with OR, will now appear in the Search History with almost 183,000 results.
Step 4: Input the keyword portion of the health disparities concept using the Advanced Search option and the .ti,ab,kf. field code. The resulting search query will be: (disparit* or equit*).ti,ab,kf. Click Search.
Notice that the search now appears in the search history as Search #4, and that it has over 221,000 results.
Step 5: Input the controlled vocabulary portion of the health disparities concept using the Advanced Search option and the forward slash: health status disparities/. Click Search.
Notice that the search now appears in the search history as Search #5, and that it has over 23,000 results.
Step 6: Select the checkboxes beside searches #4 and #5 and click the Combine with OR button.
Search #6, combining searches #4 and #5 with OR, will now appear in the Search History with just over 232,000 results.
Step 7: Select the checkboxes beside searches #3 and #6 and click the Combine with AND button.
The final search combining all keywords and MeSH terms will appear a s Search #7 with 713 results.
[Questions? Contact us. lib.uoguelph.ca.]
Music: Hideaway by INOSSI and Light My Fire by INOSSI]
[This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.]
Time commitment
5 - 10 minutes
Description
The purpose of this video is to demonstrate how to combine keyword searching and controlled vocabulary searching in Ovid MEDLINE to create a comprehensive search strategy. By the end of this video, viewers will be able to combine keyword and MeSH searches using Ovid MEDLINE’s Search History to effectively search for multiple concepts.
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
