Institute for Biomedical Sciences: Databases

General

• Break down your research question into specific search terms
  • Is there a connection between cholesterol metabolism and heart attacks? = "heart attack & cholesterol & lipid metabolism"
  • Can hookworms cure asthma? = "hookworms & asthma"

PubMed

• Automatically translates your keywords into accepted MeSH terms (ex. 'heart attack' = 'myocardial infarction' / 'nose bleed' = 'epistaxis')
• Numerous 'limits' options to focus your results including:
  • Years of publication
  • Publication type (review, article, editorial, clinical trial, etc.)
  • Language
  • Text options (i.e., abstract only, full text available, etc.)
  • Age of study subjects
  • Many more
• Set up 'search alerts' to be periodically informed of new articles covering your topic of interest 

Scopus

• Tracks the number of times that an article has been cited by later articles
  • This is a great way to identify relevant literature without worrying about coming up with appropriate keywords
  • Also helps you to identify which are the seminal papers in a given field of study
• Before your search - limit results by:
  • Publication type (i.e., review, etc.)
  • Date range
• After your search - refine results by:
  • Journal
  • Author
  • Year of publication
  • Author's institution

The Himmelfarb Library has purchased access to numerous electronic databases which can help you to locate articles to assist you with your library research projects

RefWorks is a web-based citation management program similar to EndNote, ProCite or Reference Manager.

• Citations can be organized by paper/project, edited, and accessed from any computer with Internet access.
• RefWorks can also insert citations into Microsoft Word documents and format bibliographies in any of more than a thousand bibliographic citation styles.
• Citations can be automatically downloaded from Scopus, MEDLINE, PubMed, etc.
• To create a personal RefWorks account, access the RefWorks LibGuide and then follow the steps described under 'Create An Account'.