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Gerstein Science Information Centre

Public Health

This guide was created to assist Public Health students with research using library resources and also grey literature.

Textwords vs Subject Headings

For a comprehensive search, always search both subject headings and textwords for each concept.

 

Textword searching means using terms you choose yourself to search the "record" of a database. The record DOES NOT include the full-text article. It mainly includes the TITLE, ABSTRACT, and AUTHOR-PROVIDED KEYWORDS. Textwords are often referred to as keywords.

Subject heading searching means using preassigned terms to search for articles labelled with that term. Each database uses its own subject headings - MEDLINE's are called MeSH.

EXAMPLE:

Screenshot pointing out which are subject headings (those listed as such), and which are key words (words contained in the abstract)

Sometimes subject headings and textwords are the same, but often they aren't. The MeSH heading in MEDLINE for support groups is Self-Help Groups. Using only the textword "support groups" will leave out some articles tagged with the subject heading, but using only the subject heading will leave out some articles that use the textword.

Why use Subject Headings (aka a Controlled Vocabulary)?

Subject Databases use "controlled vocabularies" made up of subject headings, organized hierarchically. Subject headings solve 2 major problems we encounter when relying solely on textword searching: Synonyms and Ambiguity. 

Synonyms:

Pet Therapy = animal assisted therapy, therapy dog, therapy dogs, equine-assisted therapy, therapy animals, etc. 

If you only searched for 'pet therapy', you'd miss all articles that use 'therapy dog' to describe that concept. It's very difficult to think of all the potential ways of expressing a concept. 

Ambiguity: 

Pet therapy = animal assisted therapy, Positron emission tomography

If you searched for 'pet therapy', thinking you'd retrieve only articles about therapy animals, you'd have to sift through quite a bit of literature on PET imaging. 

So, to solve these problems, you could search the subject heading for the concept of pet therapy. In Medline, the Mesh is Animal Assisted Therapy. In CINAHL it's Pet Therapy. 

Different Subject Databases use Different Controlled Vocabularies

Search strategies MUST be customized for each database:

  • databases use different subject headings to describe the same concept
  • a database can't be searched effectively unless the correct subject headings are used
  • each database requires it's own, unique search strategy 
Database Controlled Vocabulary
MEDLINE MeSH 
EMBASE EMTREE
CINAHL CINAHL Headings
PsycINFO APA Thesaurus
Sociological Abstracts Thesaurus of Sociological Indexing Terms
AMED AMED Thesaurus

Textwords: Codes and Tips

 

MEDLINE

EMBASE

(Ovid)

PsycINFO

(Ovid)

CINAHL

(EBSCO)

Cochrane CENTRAL

(Wiley)

Sociological Abstracts

(ProQuest)

PubMed

Web of Science

SCOPUS

(Elsevier)

Subject Headings (controlled   vocabulary/    thesaurus terms)

Medline: MeSH

EMBASE: EMTREE

APA Thesaurus of Psychological Index Terms

CINAHL Headings

MeSH

Sociological Thesaurus

MeSH

None

None

Subject heading

infection/

infection/

MH infection

MeSH descriptor:

[Infection] this term only

MAINSUBJECT. EXACT ("illnesses")

 

infection[mesh]

n/a

n/a

Subject heading exploded

exp infection/

exp infection/

MH infection+

MeSH descriptor:

[Infection] explode all trees OR

[mh infection]

Note: default is to explode

MAINSUBJECT. EXACT. EXPLODE ("illnesses")

Note: click explode

Automatically explodes

Note: To turn off, search [mesh:noexp]

n/a

n/a

Search Fields

(field codes)

MEDLINE

EMBASE

 PsycINFO CINAHL Cochrane CENTRAL

Title

infection.ti

infection.ti

TI infection

infection:ti

TI(infection)

infection[ti]

TI=(infection)

TITLE (infection)

Abstract

infection.ab

infection.ab

AB infection

infection:ab

AB(infection)

n/a

AB=(infection)

ABS(infection)

Title OR Abstract

infection.ti,ab

infection.ti,ab

TI infection OR AB infection

infection:ti,ab

TI(infection) OR AB(infection)

infection[tiab]

TI=(infection) OR AB=(infection)

TITLE(infection) OR    ABS(infection)

 

Other field tags

.tw = title, abstract

.kf = word in author-provided keyword 

.pt = publication type

Medline only:

.kw = author-provided keyword exact

.id = subject content

.tw = title, abstract, and id

.pt = publication type

TX = all text

PT = publication type

:kw = keywords

:pt = publication type

Note: use field tags in Search Manager tab. To search exact word (s) use quotation marks e.g., "hospital". Hospital (no quotation marks) retrieves hospitals hospital, hospitalization

IF() = identifiers (keywords applied by database)

AU() = author

###[pmid] = PubMed Identifier

name[author] = author

type[pt] = publication type

infection[tw] = text word

AK = author keywords 

 

KP = Keywords Plus

TS = Topic (title, abstract, author keywords, keywords plus)

TITLE-ABS-KEY() = title,     abstract, & keywords 

KEY() = keywords

Truncation & Wildcards

MEDLINE

EMBASE

 PsycINFO CINAHL Cochrane CENTRAL

Truncation

E.g., pharmacy (pharmacies, pharmacology, etc.)

* or $ or :

pharmac*

* or $

pharmac*

*

pharmac*

*

pharmac*

*

pharmac*

*

pharmac*

*

pharmac*

*

pharmac*

Mandated wildcard

(Stands for EXACTLY 1 character, e.g., results for a or e)

#

wom#n

#

wom#n

?

wom?n

?

wom?n

?

wom?n

*

wom*n

?

wom?n

Automatically included in search

Optional wildcard

(Stands for 0 or 1 character, e.g., results for colour or color

?

colo?r

?

colo?r

#

colo#r

#

colo#r

*

colo*r

*

colo*r

$

colo$r

Automatically included in search

Quotation Marks

MEDLINE

EMBASE

 PsycINFO CINAHL Cochrane CENTRAL

Used for phrase searching

e.g., “myocardial infarction” OR “heart attack”

Phrases (2 or more words) automatically searched together

e.g., skin cancer

If you want these words searched separately, you must search:

skin AND cancer

Phrases (2 or more words) automatically searched together

e.g., skin cancer

If you want these words searched separately, you must search:

 skin AND cancer

Phrases must be searched with quotation marks, otherwise words will be searched separately

e.g., “skin cancer”

Phrases must be searched with quotation marks, otherwise words will be searched separately

e.g., “skin cancer”

Phrases must be searched with quotation marks, otherwise words will be searched separately

e.g., “skin cancer”

Phrases (2 or more words) automatically searched together

e.g., skin cancer

If you want these words searched separately, you must search:

skin AND cancer

Phrases must be searched with quotation marks, otherwise words    will be searched separately

e.g., “skin cancer”

Phrases must be searched with quotation marks, otherwise words      will be searched separately

e.g., “skin cancer”

Proximity/ Adjacency Operators

MEDLINE

EMBASE

 PsycINFO CINAHL Cochrane CENTRAL

Within x words, in either direction

(n = number of words between)

ADJn

(where n is a number from 1-99 or left blank)

Infection* ADJ3 prevent*

ADJn

(where n is a number from 1-99 or left blank)

Infection* ADJ3 prevent*

Nn

(where n cannot be left blank)

Infection* N3 prevent*

NEAR/n

(where n cannot be left blank)

Infection* NEAR/3 prevent*

NEAR/n

or

N/n

(where n cannot be left blank)

Infection* NEAR/3 prevent*

“search terms”[field:~n]

“Infection prevention”[tiab:~3]

Note: proximity searching cannot be used with truncation in PubMed

 

NEAR/n 

 

Infection* NEAR/3 prevent*

Note: if n is left blank, the database will search within 15 words of the other word in your search

W/n

(within n # of words)

or

Pre/n

(preceding, specific order)

Infection* W/3 prevent*

Note:

n- 1, which means

ADJ1 = Next to each other, in any order

ADJ2 = Next to each other, in any order, up to 1 word in between

ADJ3 = Next to each other, in any order, up to 2 words in between

ADJ99 = ... 98 words between
Parentheses

MEDLINE

EMBASE

 PsycINFO CINAHL Cochrane CENTRAL
Forces an order of operations. Otherwise, most databases read left to right

((fever* OR febrile OR pyrexia) AND (Tylenol OR acetaminophen OR paracetamol OR antipyretic)).tw,kf.

((fever*.tw. OR febrile.tw. OR pyrexia.tw.) AND (Tylenol.tw. OR acetaminophen.tw. OR paracetamol.tw. OR antipyretic.tw.))

TI ((fever* OR febrile OR pyrexia) AND (Tylenol OR acetaminophen OR paracetamol OR antipyretic) OR AB ((fever* or febrile OR pyrexia) AND (Tylenol OR acetaminophen OR paracetamol OR antipyretic))

((fever* OR febrile OR pyrexia) AND (Tylenol OR acetaminophen OR paracetamol OR antipyretic)):ti,ab,kw

(TI((fever* OR febrile OR pyrexia) AND (Tylenol OR paracetamol OR antipyretic)) OR (AB(fever* OR febrile OR pyrexia) AND (Tylenol OR paracetamol OR antipyretic)))

(fever*[tiab] OR febrile[tiab] OR pyrexia[tiab]) AND (Tylenol[tiab] OR acetaminophen [tiab] OR paracetamol[tiab] OR antipyretic[tiab])

TI=((fever OR febrile OR pyrexia) AND (Tylenol OR acetaminophen OR paracetamol    OR antipyretic)) OR AB=((fever OR febrile OR pyrexia) AND (Tylenol OR acetaminophen OR paracetamol OR antipyretic))

TITLE ((fever* OR febrile OR pyrexia) AND (Tylenol OR acetaminophen OR paracetamol OR antipyretic)) OR ABS ((fever* OR febrile OR pyrexia) AND (Tylenol OR acetaminophen OR paracetamol OR antipyretic))

 

Example Textwords (OVID Medline)

Super precise textword search:

  • Treatment goal setting.tw – 9 hits

Balanced textword search:

  • ((goal* OR priorit*) ADJ3 (set* OR plan* OR establish*)).tw – 11914 hits

Sensitive textword search:

  • ((goal* or priorit* or target*) ADJ3 (agree* or negotiate* or convers* or discuss* or propos* or develop* or formulat* or elaborate* or establish* or identif* or write or written or state* or specif* or construct* or manag* or direct* or orient* or cent?red or achiev* or evaluat* or attain* or facilitat* or misalign* or align* or care or outcome* or plan* or set* or health or select*)).tw.– 274896 hits

ProQuest Databases - Tips & Tricks for Comprehensive Searching

It is relatively common to encounter errors when searching databases on the ProQuest interface (eg. Sociological Abstracts, ERIC, Phys Ed Index, etc). Troubleshoot your search by following these important tips: 

  1. Make sure you are only searching 1 database at a time. You should see the name of your database at the top of the page. 
    Screenshot of ProQuest with Sociological Abstracts circled
     
  2. If searching TI,AB [eg. TI,AB((chronic OR traumatic) NEAR/2 ("brain injur*"))] doesn't work, you can search your textwords separately in TI or AB, or use the code NOFT (Anywhere but Full Text):

    For example, in Sociological Abstracts: 

    Option A: TI((chronic OR traumatic) NEAR/2 ("brain injur*")) OR AB((chronic OR traumatic) NEAR/2 ("brain injur*")) = 114 results

    Option B: NOFT((chronic OR traumatic) NEAR/2 ("brain injur*")) = 123 results

    Option A will retrieve the same results as TI,AB, is likely more precise, and potentially less redundant than NOFT. Option B is quicker to create, but since it includes additional search fields, will be less precise and potentially introduce redundancies into your search strategy. 
     
  3. Do not truncate words <3 letters. Consider using defined truncation (eg. NOFT(disabilit[*3]) but it’s not necessary.
     
  4. Use quotation marks around phrases. Make sure to account for word endings, as the use of quotation marks turns off stemming and you will increase risk of missing things. 

    For example, in the International Bibliography of the Social Sciences (IBSS): 

    TI,AB("financial institution") = 589 articles  

    TI,AB("financ* institution*") = 5,684 articles     

    Note: Consider using a proximity operator instead of searching a phrase. 
     
  5. Avoid using the Combine Searches function (eg. S1 and S2) to combine your search sets. For long queries, it can cause time-outs. Combine sets in the Command Line or Advanced Search instead. Ensure correct use of parentheses. 

    Screenshot showing text in a search bar with an X beside it, then text in an Advanced Search with a checkmark beside it
     
  6. If you are still encountering errors in ProQuest for your systematic or scoping review search, contact ask.gerstein@utoronto.ca.

This work is openly licensed via CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. For information on this guide contact Erica Nekolaichuk, Faculty Liaison & Instruction Librarian at the Gerstein Science Information Centre. 

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