Savvy Searcher
"Searching Rules"
Limiting Your Search
The problem in searching in MEDLINE is not finding too little,
but rather finding too much. The ideal is to structure your
search strategy so that you retrieve exactly the type of article
you need. For example, let's say you are interested in locating
recent articles on current clinical trials or studies on the
use of taxmoxifen in cancer treatment. This will require limiting
your MEDLINE search to a particular publication type.
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STEP ONE – Search using the subject term tamoxifen.
Remember that the OVID MEDLINE search system will map
you to the correct subject term. Using the explode and
focus search features will improve your search results.
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STEP TWO – Apply the subheading, therapeutic use,
in order to retrieve references in which tamoxifen is
used to treat cancer. If you selected all subheadings,
you would retrieve all references on tamoxifen.
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STEP 3 – Click on the Limit icon (the target).
Notice that from this screen you can limit to English,
Human and date.
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STEP 4 – From the Limit Screen scroll down until
you see the drop-down menus. Notice that you can limit
by Age Groups, Language, and even Animal Types. Remember
that we are looking for clinical studies on the drug
tamoxifen. Select Randomized Controlled Trials from
the alphabetical list of publication types. You could
include other types of studies, such as Clinical Trials
or Meta-Analysis. If you select more than one publication
type, you must hold down the Ctrl key to retain your
previous selections. Click on the LIMIT SEARCH button.
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RESULTS – Your search retrieved 33 cites on randomized
controlled trials conducted on the drug tamoxifen from
1997-1999.
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