Sample Searches

Health Reference Center Academic Sample Searches

Health Reference Center Academic provides access to articles on fitness, pregnancy, medicine, nutrition, diseases, public health, occupational health and safety, alcohol and drug abuse, HMOs, prescription drugs, etc. The material contained in this database is intended for informational purposes only.

Search 1:

A sales trainer wanted to know, when searching for records in Health Reference Center Academic, how to exclude citations from particular references sources.

Solution:

1. Opened Health Reference Center Academic and went to the "Advanced search" page.
2. Selected "Key Word (ke)" and entered the desired terms in the first entry box.
3. Selected "NOT" from the adjacent dropdown box.
4. Selected "Journal (jn)" and entered the reference source in the second entry box.
5. Retrieved were records from all journals and reference sources except the one(s) excluded.

Search 2:

A customer using Health Reference Center Academic wanted to know how she could retrieve peer-reviewed, full-text articles on amino acids in relation to dietary supplements.

Solution:

1. Opened Health Reference Center Academic, entered "Subject guide search" page and found that both "amino acids" and "dietary supplements" were preferred terms.
2. Returned to the "Subject guide search" page and entered "amino acids and dietary supplements" in the entry box.
3. Checked the "to articles with text" and "to peer reviewed publications" boxes.
4. Five articles fitting the requested criteria were retrieved.

Search 3:

A user of Health Reference Center Academic wanted to find full-text articles published after 2001 dealing with safety issues between generic and brand name prescription drugs.

Solution:

1. Opened Health Reference Center Academic went to the "Advanced search" page.
2. Selected "Subject (su)" and entered "generic drug*" in the first entry box.
3. Selected "Text Word (tx)" and entered "brand name drug*" in the second entry box.
4. Selected "Text Word (tx)" and entered "safe*" in the third entry box.
5. Checked the "to articles with text" box and limited by date "after" 2001.
6. Clicked on the "Search" button and retrieved more than 40 articles that fulfilled the user's request.

Search 4:

A reference librarian using Health Reference Center Academic wanted to help a patron find peer-reviewed, full-text articles on the use of the herbal supplement Black Cohosh in relation to menopause, with a mention of any related aspects of breast cancer if any.

Solution:

1. Opened Health Reference Center Academic, went to the "Subject guide search" page.
2. Entered "Black Cohosh", "menopause" to verify that they were subject terms. They were.
3. Went to the "Advanced search" page.
4. Selected "Subject (su) and entered "black cohosh" in the first entry box.
5. Selected "Subject (su)" and entered "menopause" in the second entry box.
6. Selected Text Word (tx)" and entered "breast cancer" in the third entry box.
7. Checked the "to articles with text" and "to peer reviewed publications" boxes.
8. Clicked on the "Search" button and retrieved seven relevant articles matching the requested search criteria.

Search 5:

An e-mailer using Health Reference Center Academic wanted to know how to retrieve full-text peer-reviewed articles dealing with the side effects of prescription medications.

Solution:

1. Opened Health Reference Center Academic and went to the "Keyword search" page.
2. Entered "prescription medication* and side effect*" in the entry box.
3. Checked the "to articles with text" and "to peer reviewed publications" boxes.
4. Clicked on the "Search" button and retrieved nine articles matching the requested criteria.