Research Guides: Complementary & Alternative Medicine: Database Tutorials

Help with Database Searching

In addition to the database-specific help materials listed below, also consider visiting the Tutorials/Help section of the Health Sciences Research Guide for more support related to crafting and refining a database search.

PubMed Tutorials

PubMed - User Guide
The user guide for PubMed includes FAQs and information about basic search, display and navigation functions.
PubMed - Online Training Packet
This site contains tutorials, quick tours and learning resources for using PubMed.
PubMed: Building a Search [Video]
This tutorial from the Welch Medical Library at Johns Hopkins details the steps to building a systematic search strategy in PubMed with the building block method, including the use of Boolean operators, truncation, quotations, and field tags.
How to use the medical subject headings (MeSH)
This short article uses plain language to describe the function and use of MeSH terms for creating search strategies in PubMed.
Baumann, N. (2016). How to use the medical subject headings (MeSH). International Journal of Clinical Practice, 70(2), 171-174.
Topic Searching in PubMed: Using MeSH
Learn how to use the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) for expert PubMed searching in this hands-on, self-paced course. Designed for librarians and other expert literature searchers in the health sciences, this course will help you better understand how PubMed uses MeSH and how you can take control of your PubMed topic searches for better precision or recall.

CINAHL Tutorials

CINAHL Video Tutorials (Yale Cushing/Whitney Medical Library)
Basic Searching in CINAHL
This tutorial from EBSCO demonstrates the basic searching features of the suite of CINAHL databases on EBSCOhost.
Advanced Searching in CINAHL
This tutorial from EBSCO demonstrates the advanced searching features of the suite of CINAHL databases on EBSCOhost.
Using CINAHL Subject Headings
This tutorial from EBSCO offers step by step guidance on how to use CINAHL subject headings in the EBSCO interface.

PsycINFO Help

PsycINFO can be searched via APA PsycNET, or via the Ovid platform.

APA PsycNET

APA PsycNET Quick Reference Guide [PDF]
This PDF from APA PsycNET highlights key aspects of advanced searching in APA PsycNET.
Note: This PDF may not be accessible to screen reader users. If you need remediation support for this, or other library documents, please contact lib-accommodations@nyu.edu.
APA PsycNET Help Center
This help site from PsycNET offers explanations of basic and advanced searching, as well as managing and exporting search results within the APA PsycNET platform.

PsycINFO via Ovid

PsycINFO via Ovid Quick Reference Guide [PDF]
This PDF from APA highlights key aspects of advanced searching in PsycINFO via the Ovid platform.
Note: This PDF may not be accessible to screen reader users. If you need remediation support for this, or other library documents, please contact lib-accommodations@nyu.edu.
PsycINFO via Ovid Database Guide
This guide from Wolters Kluwer describes how PsycINFO information is structured in the Ovid interface. Jump down to Advanced Searching for tips on using Ovid syntax and limits to optimize a search strategy.