Database search interface comparison guide

Note: database search interfaces change relatively frequently. Check the provider help files if a search doesn’t perform as you expect.

This document compares some of the tools available to you when searching:

truncation - including all different forms of a word (nurse, nurses, nursing)
automatic stemming - when truncation is carried out automatically by the database
wildcards - to include different spellings of words such as paediatric/pediatric
proximity searching - including results where two search terms are close to each other
phrase searching - including phrases as well as single word terms in your searches
Boolean - which Boolean logic terms are supported by the database (e.g. AND/OR/NOT)
Parenthesis - including brackets () in your search string to group search terms together
Subject searching - using a controlled vocabulary (Subject Headings) can be used to identify content on a specific topic

The following search interface providers are compared:

OVID (Medline, Embase, PsycInfo, MIDIRS)
Ebsco (CINAHL)
Proquest (Public Health Database, ASSIA, Social Science Abstracts)
Web of Science (now accessed via free subscription for Scottish residents from the National Library of Scotland, includes Medline, WoS Core Collection, Journal Citation Reports)
Google Scholar
PubMed
Epistemonikos (more information about Epistemonikos here)
DoPHER/TroPHI (more information about DoPHER & TroPHI here)
Cochrane Library