Ovid Web Gateway

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Ovid Web Gateway

• Juliet Ralph and Kate Williams
• Trinity Term 2006

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OxLIP

• Oxford Library Information Platform your
  gateway to electronic resources
• Library catalogues including OLIS
• Bibliographic databases
• Full-text electronic journals
• Internet sites (subject gateways)
• Reference works Statistics
• http//www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/oxlip

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Accessing OxLIP

• Access from any Oxford University computer
• If you need access from a non-University PC
• Arrange before you leave Oxford
• Some allow access via Athens register for a
  personal Athens account
• http//www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/athens
• If database does not use Athens, contact OUCS to
  arrange remote access (VPN) to the Oxford
  University network.
• http//www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/network/remote/

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Which databases?

• Since March 2006 medical and related databases
  have moved from WebSpirs to Ovid
• AMED complementary medicine
• British Nursing Index
• Cinahl nursing
• Embase pharmacology
• Global Health public health tropical medicine
• HMIC Health Management Information Consortium
• IBSS International Bibliography of the Social
  Sciences
• Medline - medicine
• PsycInfo - psychology

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Still on WebSpirs

• Biological Abstracts
• CAB Abstracts
• Econlit
• Forest Science Database (formerly TreeCD)
• Geobase
• GeoRef
• Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals
• INSPEC - physics, electronics and computing
• MathSci
• PAIS International
• Philosopher's Index
• Serfile
• SIGLE - Grey Literature
• Zoological Record

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Key features of Ovid

• Default is advanced search - map term to subject
  heading which automatically searches the
  thesaurus and maps your search term to a
  recognised MeSH subject heading.
• MeSH is Medical subject headings, used by
  National Library of medicine (US), as a
  controlled vocabulary.
• Can un-tick it, to do free-text searching.

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Key features

• Search for bird flu - Lists all related headings,
  eg Influenza in birds
• Click on link MeSH tree shows relationship
  between terms broader and narrower terms
• Offers you options to explode means it will
  search for your term and any other narrower
  terms. Or to focus which just looks for records
  with your term as a major heading. Default is
  explode.
• TIP Look at SCOPE note see it covers lots of
  possible synonyms
• Sub-heading can narrow by sub-heading or keep it
  broad. In this instance, keep it broad.

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Limits and filters

• Limit search by language and publication years
• even wider range of filters, specifically
  designed for medical research.

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Key features

• Tour Oxford full text button has links through
  to full text, if there are any. Can also search
  OLIS for print copies held in Oxford, if no full
  text link.
• Find citing articles only searches articles in
  OVIDs own journal collection. NB. Science
  Citation Index (Web of Science) is best for cited
  reference searching, as more comprehensive.
• You can mark results, then print, email or save
  them in Results manager. Direct export allows you
  to save to EndNote
• Save search/Alert as with most databases, you
  can set up a personal account so can save
  searches and be alerted when new research
  appears.

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Got an incomplete reference?

• Find citation You can use this feature if you
  know an article exists, and know some of the
  details, but are not sure of the exact citation.
  E.g. we know that Professor Edmund Rolls wrote an
  article on emotions in 2000.
• Enter Rolls and emotion and 2000.

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Ovid vs WebSpirs

• Better interface for biomedical clinical
  searches
• Sophisticated Limits, eg randomised controlled
  trials
• Subject heading search is the default
• Nicer display

• Keyword search is the default
• Displays the most recent papers first

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How to start your search

• Choose a clear research topic.
• e.g. Look for the most recent literature on the
  effect of the H5N1 strand of the bird flu virus
  on European countries
• Break the topic into search concepts. There are 3
  main concepts to search for. What are they?

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7 steps to Search Success
1. Ask a detailed question e.g. What is the
effect of the bird flu virus (H5N1 strand) in
Europe? 2. Identify the most important words in
the question for your key search terms. e.g.
What is the effect of the bird flu virus (H5N1
strand) in Europe? 3. Think of related terms
which could be used in relevant articles e.g.
bird flu - avian flu/avian influenza Europe
European
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7 steps to Search Success

• 4. Select a suitable database(s) for the subject
  area, e.g. Medline
• Look at the Medical Sciences section on Oxlip at
  http//www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/oxlip/
• 5. Enter your search terms, using the map terms
  to subject headings feature on Ovid. This is
  automatically selected.
• 6. Use OR to connect synonyms or alternative
  terms
• e.g. 1 bird flu
• 2 H5N1
• Combine searches 1 and 2 with OR

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7 steps to Search Success

• 7. Combine the resulting set numbers with AND
  connector
• e.g. 1 OR 2
• AND 3 Europe
• N.B. If your search results in too many
  references
• Add more specific search terms
• Select Focus to narrow your search
• Use Limits
• Try Clinical Queries (available in the Limits)

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Top tips for searching

• Choose your search terms carefully, considering
  synonyms and alternative terms.
• Where possible, make use of controlled
  vocabulary, using thesauri and subject headings
  (MeSH) when you search.
• Start off simply, searching for terms separately
  and then combining them, using Boolean operators.
• Use the limit features to find specific
  publication types, e.g. meta-analyses, randomised
  controlled trials etc.
• When you find some useful research, use the Web
  of Knowledges cited reference searching to see
  who has cited the article and move your research
  forward in time.