Connecting From Off Campus
Databases and Library Catalogs
OskiCat: Library catalog for UCB
Melvyl: Library catalog for all of the UCs
Guides to Library Catalogs
PubMed for UCB: Over 18 million medical and health sciences journal article citations
PubMed Quick Guide (UCB Library)
PubMed Help (UCB Public Health Library)
Indexes and Databases: Alphabetical list of public health related databases for finding literature.
Public Health Internet Resources: Web resources evaluated and selected by librarians at the Public Health Library.
Other Resources
RefWorks: Web-based bibliographic
management program. Citations
can be formatted and merged into Microsoft Word documents as footnotes or a custom bibliography. It is web-based and can be accessed
from any computer connected to the Internet. RefWorks is free for all
UCB faculty, staff and students. For help, see RefWorks Guides.
Library Resources Instruction: Free, drop-in classes on various topics for SPH faculty, staff and students.
Bibliographic
Management Software Help and Tutorials
UCB Library Tutorials
PubMed Exercise:
1. In the search box, type: Asthma. Click on Search.
2. Limit your search to articles in the
English language, published only in the last 3 years.
3. Send about 5 articles to the Clipboard.
4. Now, go to the Clipboard and try to
open the full text of any of the 5 articles through UC-eLinks.
How to do Library Research
- Choose a research topic
Break your topic down into individual concepts (with synonyms)
Do a preliminary literature search (find out which resources would best for your topic)
Evaluate (read critically) the information gathered from your preliminary search
Narrow or broaden your topic, if necessary. Use Boolean searching.
Continue with your literature search, gathering the best citations for your topic
Additional Help With Searching PubMed (NLM sources)
- Combining search terms with Boolean operators
- Searching by subject headings using the MeSH Database
- MeSH (Subheadings): Definitions
- Limiting searches
- Viewing Your Search History
- Saving and E-mailing Results and Searches
If your keyword/concept does not bring up any MeSH terms:
Search for your keyword in the title field (i.e., obesity[ti]).
Use hard brackets [ ] and not parentheses. If the word is in the
article title, you can find a relevant MeSH term. Expand this to include words in the abstract
(i.e., yourterm[tiab]).
When you have possible MeSH terms, look them up in the MeSH Database and see where they appear on the tree. Use broader or narrower terms, as seen on the tree, if appropriate.
The MeSH term "epidemiology" is for the field of study. Use the epidemiology subheading to learn about this aspect of a disease or condition.
Be aware when searching for an infection versus the
agent/organism causing it (HIV or
HIV infections); a symptom versus a disease (Depression or Depressive Disorder); or a medical specialty versus a disease, condition, or intervention (Preventive Medicine or
Preventive Health Services; Pulmonary Medicine or Lung Diseases).
Drugs and substances can be classified under several
headings. When you find a drug or
substance in MeSH, look at where it appears on the
tree(s). You may need to broaden/narrow your search. For example, are you interested in
DDT, or all chlorinated hydrocarbons? Items listed as a substance may
also have relevant MeSH terms. For example, your search may be
something like: ddt[mesh] OR alpha-chloro-DDT [Substance Name] OR
DDT-dehydrochlorinase [Substance Name], etc.
| 