This document provides a tutorial on how to use PubMed and MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) terms to search the biomedical literature. It explains how to search for a MeSH term corresponding to a natural language term, how MeSH terms can be added to the PubMed search builder, and how to filter search results. It also describes exploring search results, reviewing article abstracts, and using related features in PubMed like Clinical Queries to further refine searches. The goal is to illustrate PubMed's abilities to help users efficiently find relevant scientific articles for their research needs.

1. PubMed Tutorial
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed
Locating and Using MeSH terms in
PubMed

2. This is the first screen you will see
upon entering the PubMed
database. Follow the steps below to
locate the appropriate MeSH
terms.
• The default choice for the drop
down is PubMed. Scroll down
until you locate „MeSH‟.
• Click on MeSH to begin your
MeSH term search.
• Enter your natural language
term in the search box then
click on the search icon.
For this tutorial, the natural
language term „lesbian‟ will be
used.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubm
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3. This is the top half of the MeSH
page.
Enter the natural language term
„lesbian‟ in the box to the right of
the drop down then click on
search. This is the screen which
illustrates the MeSH term for
„lesbian‟.
The MeSH term
„homosexuality, female‟ is the
search term to use from this point
on, either by itself or with a
second MeSH term depending on
your research needs.
• Click on “Add to search
builder” to enter the MeSH
term into the PubMed search
builder
• Once term is entered then
click on “Search PubMed” to
begin the literature search.

4. This is the bottom half of the
MeSH term page.
Each time PubMed searches a
MeSh term, it will „explode‟ a
term when possible. Two
examples are shown for
“Homosexuality, Female” in the
red box to the right.
The top example illustrates a
connection between Behavior and
Behavior Mechanisms and
Homosexuality, Female. In
contrast, the second example links
Homosexuality, Female to
Reproductive and Urinary
Physiological Phenomena.
These „explosions‟ are referred to
as MeSH trees as each descending
term branches off of a main MeSH
category.

5. After clicking onto the search
icon, the screen to your right will
appear with various articles related
to the MeSH term under review.
• At this point in your search, it is
important to verify the search
term as being MeSH.
• This can be verified by the
appearance of [Mesh] to the right
of the term.
For the search using
“Homosexuality, Female” as the
MeSH term the results indicated
there are 2099 articles for review.
On the left side of the screen, are
various filters to be used in further
restricting the results. Those listed
are the default filters with additional
filters located by clicking on the
„show additional filters‟ at the top
left side of the page.
In the upper right corner is the „Send
to‟ dropdown, when opened it will
allow you to either save your
searches to a temporary site
(clipboard) or a permanent site (My
bibliography).

6. For this search, I chose the
following filters – publication dates
(5 yrs), species (human), article
type (systematic reviews), language
(English), and age (adult 19+ yrs).
From this search, there were seven
results.
Currency, evidence based
medicine, and validity to search
term were the reasons these filters
were chosen.
This is the MeSH equation:
"Homosexuality, Female"[Mesh]
AND ("2007/08/07"[PDat] :
"2012/08/04"[PDat] AND
"humans"[MeSH Terms] AND
systematic[sb] AND English[lang]
AND "adult"[MeSH Terms])
To determine actual relevance to
the search underway, reviewing
each article is the next step. To
open an article link, simply click on
the title of the article.
Additional articles may be located
through the „Titles with your search
terms‟ located in the upper right
corner.

7. This is the abstract for Article #2
from the previous slide. The
abstract will assist you in
verifying the article‟s relevance to
your search parameters.
In addition to an abstract, there are
three other important areas to use
in searching for key articles. These
are „Find Full Text” (upper right
corner), „Related citations in
PubMed‟ (middle right side), and
„Recent activity‟ (lower right
corner). Each gives the user
avenues for accessing full text
articles and locating additional
sources of information on their
search term as well as a visual
reminder of articles already
viewed during the search.

8. An additional feature of
PubMed is PubMed Clinical
Queries. To begin a search in
this area, leave the database
default at PubMed, clear the
search box then click on the
search box (upper screenshot).
This action will bring you to
the next screen where „Clinical
Queries can be located.
The lower screenshot shows
you where to locate „Clinical
Queries‟. Clinical queries
allows the user to deepen their
research in three areas –
Clinical Study
Categories, Systemic
Reviews, and Medical
Genetics.

9. Here is the PubMed Clinical
Queries search window. Be sure to
use only the MeSH term in the
search box. Enter the MeSH term
then click on Search.
In Clinical Study Categories, there
are five subheadings – Etiology,
Diagnosis, Therapy, Prognosis,
and Clinical prediction guides
with two scopes – Broad or
Narrow to further use to restrict
your search. Medical Genetics
offers eight subheadings for
filtering results – All, Diagnoses,
Differential Diagnoses, Clinical
Description, Management,
Genetic Counseling, Molecular
Genetics, and Genetic Counseling.
In contrast, Systemic Reviews
does not allow for additional
filtering via subheadings.
For this tutorial, I chose to use
Clinical Study Categories –
Therapy – Broad as a filtering
agent.

10. This is the abstract of the first
article listed in the screenshot on
the previous slide. As with the
articles from the general MeSH
search, the articles located
through „Clinical Queries‟ may
be sent to the clipboard and/or
My bibliography as well as the
PubMed database alerting you to
other possible articles through
the „Related citations in PubMed‟
link.
This tutorial covers some of the
aspects offered through the
PubMed database. PubMed is
worthy of a more thorough
review of its capabilities in
aiding research by health
professionals.