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Ovid Medline

Learn how to search the Ovid Medline database.

About

Medline (National Library of Medicine)  [link]

Topics: Life sciences, with a focus on biomedical information

Scope: Over 5,600 current journals and 21 million records

Date Range: 1946 - present (w/ some older material)

Platform: OVID

Help: OVID Support Center

Searching Ovid Medline

Glossary (A-Z)

AbstractA summary, outlining the key points of a given study or article.

Complete Reference:  Here, you will find all the information collected on a particular article, including abstract, author, source, subject headings etc.  Use the "Get It" Button to check for full-text availability

ExplodeThis checkbox appears when choosing Subject Headings.  When selected, the database will return articles indexed with the selected Subject Heading as well as any indexed with its narrower terms found in the Subject Tree.

FocusThis checkbox appears when choosing Subject Headings.  When selected, the database will only return articles in which the selected Subject Heading has been identified as the primary topic.

"Get It" Button: This button checks the full-text availability of a given article within McMaster Libraries.  Follow the links to access the full-text document.

Limits: These specialized Subject Headings help you filter out irrelevant results based on factors like age group, publication type, and publication date.

Map Term to Subject Heading: This checkbox appears on the main search page.  When selected, it will suggest appropriate Subject Heading for the concepts entered into the search box.

Search HistoryThis tool tracks your recent searches and tells you how many results were returned for each term.  
 
Subject Heading: Authoritative language used to describe the content of a given article (sometimes called a Subject Term)
 
Subject TreeComplete listing of all of Medline's Subject Headings.  Terms are arranged hierarchically.