Dental Hygiene - Graduate

PubMed is the free interface for the premier biomedical database, MEDLINE.  It was created & is maintained by the National Library of Medicine.  PubMed contains both primary & secondary literature.  Because it's a free to access, you can use it even when you leave the University of Michigan.

Articles in PubMed are indexed by MeSH (Medical Subject Headings), terms that have specific definitions within the database & help you to create more focused searches.

Enter your search terms, using synonyms, parentheses, & Boolean operators, in the main search bar at the top of the PubMed window, & click the Search button.

Your results are listed on the Search Results page.

You can see that there are many results, including some that are not related to the question.

What if your search results are not quite what you expected or they seem really off-base?  Check Search Details, a box in the lower right of the Search Results page, which shows you how PubMed "translated" your search.

Click on the See more link to see how PubMed "maps" any term that you enter to MeSH terms when possible & also does a keyword search.

If at least one term for each concept in your search doesn't map to a MeSH term, you should rethink your search terms or contact the library for help.

Filters, which can be found on the left side of the Search Results page, can help you focus your search appropriately.  Categories include Article types, Publication dates, Species, Languages, & Ages.

• Two filters that are almost always useful are Species/Humans (unless you're looking specifically for animal research) and Language/English.  Article type/Review will also be useful in this search.
• To add Language, Age, & other categories of filters, click on the Show additional filters link above or below the filter list. Check the filters you want to add, then click the Show button to make the filters appear on the screen.  Next choose the filter(s) you want to add.
• When you apply filters, they appear above your search results.
• Remember to clear all filters when you do a new search.

You can save & share references by using the email function in PubMed.  Click the Send to link in the upper right.  Select Email, then fill in the correct email address below.