OVID
A search platform through which many institutions access various Health Sciences journal collections.
- FSU uses OVID to access:
- A collection of 76 nursing journals
- OVID is slowly rolling out successive interface improvements this year (2024), with the main search interface scheduled to undergo some design changes along the way, but for the time being, it looks like:
How to Search OVID:
- Via RamSearch
- RamSearch does search OVID, and will link you through to the full-text PDFs
- Via the OVID interface
- There are 6 ways to search:
- Tab 1: Basic search - one box <--Perfectly fine for a very simple, one-word search
- Tab 2: Citation Search - A blank citation form; enter what info you have to see if OVID has that article
- Tab 3: Search Fields - A whole bunch of fields to choose from, a search box (REDUNDANT IMO)
- Tab 4: Advanced Search - A few fields to choose from, a search box REDUNDANT IMO)
- Tab 5: Multi-Field Search - A whole bunch of fields to choose from, multiple search boxes (and ways to add more), and a way to choose boolean operators <-- THIS is the actual best place to run an 'advanced search' - all the options you need, but you don't HAVE to use any which you don't want to!
- Saving several searches to the search history area, then going there and running several together to get one set of results (similar to that function on PubMed) <--Not bad, if you like that combining searches method
Regardless of which search option you use, there are search limits you can select before running your search
- Default pre-search limit choices are:
- Daily Update - see the most recent additions
- Original Articles - primary, peer-reviwed
- Articles with Abstracts
- Review Articles
- APA PsycArticles
- A blank publication year range you can fill in
- If you click the 'Edit Limits' button, you will see all the above, and the additional choices below. All of these choices can be selected or un-selected, then 'Customize Limits' clicked to customize the front page's limit choices.
- Articles with References
- Articles with Graphics
- A choice of journal subsets (list of topics)
- A choice of star rankings
- A choice of public types (list of things found in journals)
- A quicker way to choose a date range ('Year published')
Results Page Features: Some of these seem useful....some not so much.
- On the left, you see a column called 'Search Information', also known as 'Results Tools' (can be customized a bit or hidden)
- Shows your search query
- Shows all the search terms used by the OVID search platform during this search (yours, and related terms)
- Gives you a total count of results
- Gives you an opportunity to sort by 'SCORE' (this default can be customized)
- Gives you options to limit further via:
- Relevancy
- Years
- Journal
- Publication Type
- Gives you opportunity to add this search's results to a search history area
- Gives you the opportunity to add selected (tick box) results to a temporary search history area
- Gives you the opportunity to add search results to a project area (if you created an OVID account / logged in)
On the right, you see:
- Icons offering chances to
- Print
- E-Mail
- Export
- Send to 'My Projects'
- Next, you see opportunities to
- select all results
- select a a number range
- clear that last number range selection
- view the results listing in 3 different levels of detail (by default, this 'citation view' is set on the middle choice)
- choose how many results to view per page
- jump to a specific result
- proceed to the next page
At the next level down, you are viewing the results listing. Depending in which level of citation view you pick, you will have default options below or next to each listed result
- 1st Citation View:
- Star rating
- Tick box to choose result
- Article title, a live link to more information
- Ether a PDF icon, a CIte icon, or both
- Bibliographic Entry Style Choices:
- Opportunity to add result to Project area (account needed)
- Opportunity to Annotate (account needed)
2nd Citation View:
- Right around search result title:
- Star rating
- Tick box to choose result
- Article title, a live link to more information
- Remainder of the citation
- Type of article
- AN identifier
- Link to open Abstract
- PDF icon link if available
- CIte link
- My Projects link
- Annotate Link
- To the right of the search results title:
- OVID Full Text - immediate access to html full text
- Table of Contents - that journal issue's TOC
- Abstract Reference
- Complete Reference
- Find Similar - if in OVID
- Find Citing Articles - if in OVID
- Request Permissions - leads to copyright clearance (copyright license payment) center. STUDENTS - DO NOT USE!
3rd Citation View:
- Looks just like View 2, except the Abstract is open and viewable
At the very bottom of each results listing page, you see the same options/tools as at the top of the listing.
