Using Limits in PubMed

We have just returned from a Research Class field trip to the Philson Library at the Medical School - it was fun, but as always, pointed up how little literature there is in our field.

Although the books on the shelves looked old and scruffy (they were probably just the leftovers, with all the good stuff being on loan), the metres of shelves of journals (and only those going back to the '70s are on display), not to mention the databases of e-resources reinforce the lack of published information on naturopathy, herbs and related subjects we have access to.

However, in the course of the visit, I discovered that some people were a bit lost when it comes to limiting PubMed searches. I touched on this topic 2 posts ago, but will deal with it in more detail now. However, I do urge anyone feeling lost or confused to come and see me, as a few minutes spent together at the computer might save you hours of time.

This is a screenshot of the home page of PubMed - you can click on the picture to enlarge it or use the link and open your own page (press ctrl-t to get a new page if you like). Notice the Limits tab - highlighted and circled. Click on that and you will get a page that looks like this:


These options give you scope to set as many or few limits as you wish - you can click the box to get free full text only, or choose both highlighted boxes to get free full text and abstracts (not all articles come with abstracts and it can be useful to exclude those which don't from your search).

You can choose Human or Animal (leave the boxes unchecked if you want both), similarly with Gender, Language, and subsets of Journals (this last is not usually very helpful for us) - there are more choices than the page shows, as you can see by the accompanying scroll bars.

Below these fields, you get:


Types of Article (very useful for sorting out clinical trials or reviews) and Ages which is bound to offer you the range you need, from infants to elderly.

Once you have checked all the boxes you think will narrow your search sufficiently, click on Go at the bottom of the page, and the limits will stay until you clear them or log out.

Remember you can have your search results emailed to you or printed in a variety of ways - unfortunately the menu didn't stay open for the screenshot, but drop it down and have a look at the options.

Please let me know if this has been helpful, or how I can make improvements to the instructions. Happy searching!

Graduation 2008

How does the time go by so fast?! I was going to write this up soon after the event, but now a month has gone by and still I've written nothing. Luckily there haven't been many readers, either, but it would be nice to have a comment or 2 - I would be spurred into action more often.

Graduation went off smoothly again this year on Friday March 14th. With a small group graduating (10) we held the ceremony at the College, which made a very 'family' occasion.


We paraded as usual through Ellerslie, deciding to process just as the rain decided to come down for the day. There was not another shower for the rest of the day. Lyn Angel from CSU was concerned that the brand new hoods (our graduates were the first to wear the new gold and red colours) would be ruined, but fortunately, despite a soaking, they survived unscathed. Even our trenchers survived their drenching. The walk was curtailed because of the weather, so we didn't enjoy the applause of all the shopkeepers in Ellerslie, but the graduates were cheered by friends and family lining the route.

The speaker for the ceremony was Melissa Jones, who regaled the graduates with some tales from practice, along with good advice for life after study. As the Diplomas were awarded, graduates were presented with tussie-mussies made from garden plants.

Lyn Angel spoke (mostly about the exploits of CSU) before capping the graduates who now had their hands full with parchments, trenchers and tussie-mussies. The Oath was taken, after which class representatives, Caroline Marshall and Meryn Wakelin, spoke in thanks to family and staff. The proceedings concluded with afternoon tea.