Guides: Medical Sciences: Getting Started

Search the Library Catalogue

Search across the collections of all McMaster's libraries to find ebooks, print books, journals, databases and more.

Contact Us

Health Sciences Library,
McMaster University

1280 Main St. West HSC-2B
Hamilton, ON
L8S 4K1

Phone: 905-525-9140 ext. 22327
Email: hslib@mcmaster.ca

What to do when McMaster does not have electronic access to a journal article

Search Library Catalogue
Articles not available at McMaster Health Sciences Library
- Request item via RACER - iInterlibrary loan service
  - Register for RACER account (select Health Sciences Library as your location) (one time registration)
  - Login to RACER - to submit request
Search other Library Catalogues

Connecting to library resources from home

To access the library's rich collection of online resources including databases, journal articles and books, you must login to LibAccess first.

Use MacID to login to LibAccess - Mac ID is also used to access Avenue to Learn. .
Use your MacID to access wireless Internet networks at other institutions with Eduroam. What is Eduroam?

Health Databases & Indexes

BIOSIS Previews

CINAHL This link opens in a new window EBSCO Host Full text for nursing and allied health journals included in the CINAHL index – covers biomedicine, health sciences, alternative medicine, and more.

Dissertations and Theses
First Search
Gene
NCBI Database
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Gene integrates information from a wide range of species. A record may include nomenclature, Reference Sequences (RefSeqs), maps, pathways, variations, phenotypes, and links to genome-, phenotype-, and locus-specific resources worldwide.
Health Related Databases
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An extensive list of databases that are available at McMaster University
Nucleotide
NCBI Database
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The Nucleotide database is a collection of sequences from several sources, including GenBank, RefSeq, TPA and PDB. Genome, gene and transcript sequence data provide the foundation for biomedical research and discovery

Ovid Databases This link opens in a new window
(e.g. MEDLINE, EMBASE, HealthSTAR, Global Health)
Ovid helps researchers, librarians, clinicians, and other healthcare professionals find important medical information so that they can make critical decisions to improve patient care, enhance ongoing research, and fuel new discoveries.

Our premium resources include:
More than 4,500 ebooks and many book collections, including archive collections of critical historical material, as well as publisher and topical collections
Over 1,300 premium, peer–reviewed journals-with no embargoes (one exception, the journal Science has a 3 month embargo). Plus, dozens of journal collections, including archive collections and packages based on publisher or subject content
Over 100 bibliographic and full–text databases
Our content covers a wide range of core and niche scientific, medical, and healthcare disciplines including:

Medicine
Nursing & Health Professions
Behavioral Sciences
Basic Sciences
Humanities & Technologies

Protein
NCBI Database
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The Protein database is a collection of sequences from several sources, including translations from annotated coding regions in GenBank, RefSeq and TPA, as well as records from SwissProt, PIR, PRF, and PDB. Protein sequences are the fundamental determinants of biological structure and function.
PubChem
NCBI Database
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PubChem, released in 2004, provides information on the biological activities of small molecules.
PubChem is organized as three linked databases within the NCBI's Entrez information retrieval system. These are PubChem Substance, PubChem Compound, and PubChem BioAssay. PubChem also provides a fast chemical structure similarity search tool. More information about using each component database may be found using the links in the homepage.
PubMed
NCBI Database
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PubMed comprises more than 23 million citations for biomedical literature from MEDLINE, life science journals, and online books. Citations may include links to full-text content from PubMed Central and publisher web sites
Web of Science
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Access the world’s leading scholarly literature in the sciences, social sciences, arts, and humanities and examine proceedings of international conferences, symposia, seminars, colloquia, workshops, and conventions.
Zoological Record 1928-2001 (Print only: Thode Indexes & Abstracts ZQL1 .Z66)

Need Assistance?

There are a number of good online tutorials available for searching OVID, CINAHL, PubMed, RefWorks, etc. and for the library catalogue.

Contact the Health Sciences Library Information Desk Monday - Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 905-525-9140 x22327 or by email (hslib@mcmaster.ca).

Medical Sciences