Can't Find What You Need?
If the book or full text of an article you're looking for is not owned by the Wolfgram Library then you need the services of Interlibrary Loan (ILL). This service obtains materials from other libraries worldwide on your behalf.
Have Questions?
ILLiad | InterLibrary Loan Tutorial Available Here
MEDLINE is the National Library of Medicine's (NLM) international index. This database contains more than 28 million references to journal articles with a focus on medical literature. MEDLINE is the primary component of PubMed, but the interface is more user friendly for advanced searches.
Navigate to the MEDLINE Database
Before you begin searching, think about the terms you want to use. Take a moment to brainstorm any potential synonyms for your search terms. Is there a more technical term used by people in the field? Are there brand name or generic options? Is there a word that may have been used in the past but is now considered outdated?
Databases use tagging systems, much like social media hashtags, to connect all of their results. Librarians call these subject headings and, like different social media platforms, each database has a preferred set of tags. In MEDLINE, we can search for the best tags using the MeSH 2021 link in the header.
This is where we can find the preferred tags. Take your search terms from Step 1 and enter them here.
Here's a quick tutorial for more info
The options on the left column of your results list will help you narrow down your results. The best place to start is usually with the publication date range. Many assignments have directions about how current your references must be. For medical research, 5 years is a good rule of thumb.
Another helpful filter is Source Types. I recommend selecting only academic journals, this will ensure that you are getting primary research from an expert instead of a second-hand magazine article. It's also a good idea to use the limit to option of "Scholarly (Peer Reviewed) Journals" to double check that your results have been peer reviewed.