Databases (search the literature)

NEW! ClinOwl

Dedicated to making this journal content easy to access by trawling hundreds of leading medical journals daily and organising articles by specialty and sub-specialty. To date ClinOwl has aggregated over 50,000 clinical articles and organised them across 30 specialties and over 100 sub-specialties. Includes a COVID-19 resource hub

PubMed

Provided by the National Library of Medicine, this reference database dates back to 1966.

TIPS for using PubMed

• Use the Limits and History features to narrow your searches.
• Use the MeSH database to find the actual term you are searching for.
• Use AND, OR, and NOT in capitals to combine terms.

PubMed (Medline)

PubMed Health

PubMed Online Training Tutorials 

Cochrane Library

TIPS for using The Cochrane Library

• Download the User Guide (pdf) well worth having a look at as it explains the various databases available.
• When you have located articles use the Printer Friendly option to Print as it retains the formatting.
• Do not tick all the charts unless you really require them as some of the articles can be 70 pages long.

Online Training Tutorials 1
Online Training Tutorials 2

TRIP Database (Turning Research into Practice)

It is an excellent site for Evidence Based Medicine information.

TIPS for using the TRIP database

• Using only one term can bring back a large number of results, so think of additional terms to help qualify the search e.g. asthma and steroids.
• On the results page you can filter your results based on an evidence based medicine hierarchy e.g. evidence-based synopses, systematic reviews. Use the 'Filter by' function on the right-hand side of the screen.
• It automatically searches Medline for you and displays the results.
• It searches the "Big 4" i.e. JAMA, New England Journal of Medicine, the Lancet and BMJ.

ERIC (Education Resource Information Center) US

Sponsored by the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) of the US Department of Education

Coverage from 1966 to present.

TIPS for using ERIC

• Use the ERIC Thesaurus.
• Always choose the Advanced Search option.
• Limit your Publication Dates e.g. 1994 to 2004.
• Tick the "Full-text availability" if you only want results with full-text provided.

Online Training Tutorials and Help

LENUS, the Irish Health Repository