Medical Subject Headings ( MeSH )

1. Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) Ancilla College Next

2. Objectives • Know how to search for and find a term in MeSH. • a. Know how to use the MeSH hierarchy. • Know when and how to use Explode and Major Concept. • Know how to use scope notes and subheadings. • Know how to put them all together to do a search using MeSH terms. Next

3. Your search for flu in people has brought up this hierarchy. Answer the questions about this hierarchy below. Can you search specifically for flu in people? YESNO Can you break Influenza, Human down into more specific types of flu? YESNO Back Next

4. This is the hierarchy for plague. Which of these terms in this hierarchy can you Explode? Yersinia Infections Plague Next Back

5. You want the articles in your results to focus specifically on the plague. How do you do this? Explode Major Concept Subheadings Back Next

6. How do you find out more about the subheadings? Click on the box by the subheading. Click on the subheading itself. Double click on the speech bubble icon. Back Next

7. INDEPENDENT EXPLORATION AND REFLECTION: Mission Possible: Use MeSH to find articles published since 2009 that focus on diagnosing all types of diabetes. The articles do not need to be full text. Play for mission or read summary below. Your mission, should you choose to accept it: to do a search for articles published since 2009 that focus on diagnosing all types of diabetes. This is your chance to practice doing a real search using what you’ve learned. Use Medline—remember that you don’t need to find full text articles, but remember your date parameters, and think about whether you can or need to use explode and/or major concept. Start at www.ancilla.edu. To ponder: What choices did you make, and why? Did your selected term even allow you to explode? Did you choose a subheading? If so, did your MeSH search seem easier than a Boolean search? Did it seem more precise than a Boolean search? Back Next

8. Great Job! Your Options: If you’ve finished with confidence and you’re a nursing student, congratulations! You have finished all 5 modules and can search with ease! Did OK but want to practice this again as refresher? Go back to beginning of this PowerPoint. Need to go back to the beginning of Module 5: Medical Subject Headings (MeSH)? Back

9. Great! Influenza, Human lets you search just for influenza strains in people. Back

10. Great! Influenza, Human is the farthest you can break down human flu in this hierarchy. Back

11. Sorry! Influenza, Human lets you search just for influenza strains in people. Try again.

12. Sorry! Influenza, Human can’t be broken down any further. This is the end of the line in this hierarchy, because it doesn’t have a plus or minus (expand/contract) button next to it. Try again.

13. Great! Yersinia Infections can be expanded (look for plus or minus signs), so they can be exploded, too! On to the next challenge!

14. Sorry! Plague can’t be expanded or contracted, so it can’t be exploded, either. Look for terms with either a plus or a minus beside them. Try again.

15. Sorry! Explode is used to include all the subtopics underneath a hierarchical topic, not to find articles with a main focus. Try again.

16. Great Job! Major Concept is used to tell the database to get articles that focus on your selected topic. Moving on….

17. Sorry! Subheadings are used in combination with your original term to get more precise information, like in a Boolean search. They don’t tell the database to look for articles that focus on a particular topic. Try again.

18. Sorry! Clicking on the box selects the subheading but doesn’t tell you anything about it. Try again.

19. Sorry! Clicking on the subheading itself doesn’t do anything. Try again.

20. Congratulations! Double clicking on the speech bubble opens up a small window that tells what the subheading is about. Go to next challenge.