Finding search

By now I hope most of you will have noticed that you no longer have access to the DIALOG interface to search for journal articles (see blog posts past).

From the 1st of August the main entry point for finding journal articles is via http://www.library.nhs.uk/ and more specifically the Books, Journals and Healthcare Databases section of that site.

To search you will need to be logged in using your Athens username (self register from any NHS based computer). We recommend that you then use the Healthcare Databases Advanced Search Mode to search a single database at a time as this will give you the most control over your search.

If you were a confident DIALOG user you may find the following Q & A helpful -

Q. How do I search for a phrase?

A. DIALOG did this by default if you entered multiple words - NOW - you should place any phrases in "". For example "Newham General Hospital". If you enter multiple terms without quotes then you will retrieve articles that include all of the words but not necessarily in the order you requested.

Q. How do I truncate a term?

A. Truncation is handy when you want to retrieve a number of words with the same root. DIALOG did this by adding a $ sign. NOW - you should use an asterisk (*). For example diabet* will retrieve diabetic, diabetes, diabetologist etc.

Q. Why am I not getting any keyword results?

A. DIALOG automatically included keyword results alongside the results of subject searches. To acheive the same effect NOW you should complete two searches - one with and one without the "map to thesaurus" option checked and then combine the two sets of results using OR.

Q. How does the new system handle plurals and UK versus US spellings?

A. DIALOG used to automatically try plurals and alternate American spellings. NOW - you need to add these yourself. Truncation (*) can be a simple way to do this for the plurals but for ae or ou words you will need to search for both. Eg paediatric* OR pediatric*

Q. How do I combine sets of search results?

A. DIALOG required you to type the set number plus AND / OR. NOW - you can still use set numbers or you can tick the sets you wish to combine and use the Combine sets button provided.
Q. How do I limit by publication date?

A. This is much simpler with a pair of drop down boxes located below the main search box. Select your dates and all searches will be limited to these years till you remove the limit. You can apply any limit to any set by selecting it and then running a search on the set number.

If this is all sounding rather confusing - get in touch and we will be glad to guide you through it.

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