Tips for Searching the Research Interests Index

Return to Search

Search for Term

• 
  All words you enter will appear somewhere in the records that are retrieved, though not necessarily in the order in which you entered them. Equivalent to AND. Example:

  rural health  +  
  Retrieves both rural populations AND primary health care, but only if they are both in the same faculty record

  Use with double quotation marks to search for multiple phrases or one phrase+a single word. Examples:

  "patient compliance" "psychotropic drugs"  +  
  Retrieves only records including both phrases, patient compliance AND psychotropic drugs

  "mitogen-activated protein kinases" apoptosis  +  
  Retrieves only records including the phrase mitogen-activated protein kinases AND the word apoptosis

• 
  Any of the words you enter will trigger retrieval. This way of searching tends to retrieve more records. Equivalent to OR. Example:

  rural health  +  
  Retrieves a faculty record including either rural populations OR primary health care

  This option is particularly useful when you have synonyms. Example:

  aged elderly  +  
  Retrieves faculty records including either aged OR elderly

• 
  Retrieves a faculty record in which the terms you enter are adjacent to each other in the order you entered them. This is the most precise way of searching and tends to retrieve fewer records. Example:

  rural health  +  
  Retrieves only faculty records including the phrase rural health, either alone or as part of a longer term such as rural health services

• With any search mode, use an asterisk (*) to expand term possibilities. Examples:

  urban *
  Retrieves urban population, urban health, urban health services

  prote*
  Retrieves protein folding, proteomics, protease inhibitors

• Refining your search
  • Term searching in the research interests index is supported by MeSH (Medical Subject Headings), the controlled vocabulary used to index publications in MEDLINE. Use of a controlled vocabulary improves searching by suggesting standard terms for concepts of interest.

  • The term you enter is "mapped" to the standard MeSH term if one exists. You can then refine your search by searching for the standard MeSH term, either instead of or in addition to the term you first entered. Examples:

    type 2 diabetes as a phrase -> diabetes mellitus, non-insulin-dependent as a Refine Search option

    breast cancer as a phrase -> breast neoplasms as a Refine Search option

  • Faculty who submit research interest terms to the index are also "mapped" to MeSH and encouraged to choose standard terms to describe their interests. Most do so. Thus, use of standard terms by both submitters and searchers makes searching more productive.

Search for Faculty

• Enter the name or name fragment you want to search on. Then, from the dropdown box at right, choose its appropriate format:

  Last Name
  First Name
  First&Last

• Use an asterisk (*) to expand name possibilities for either last or first name (but not both). Examples:

  lev* for Last Name search retrieves Levine, Levy, Levitt
  a* for First Name search retrieves Arthur, Alan, Anne
  a* levine for First&Last search retrieves Arthur Levine, Alan Levine, Anne Levine
  arthur lev* for First&Last search retrieves Arthur Levine, Arthur Levy, Arthur Levitt

Search for School

Once you specify a school, the list of departments for that school appears. Once you specify a department, the list of divisions for the department appears. Not all departments have divisions.

Searching on More than One Field

• To search multiple fields (Term, Faculty, School), choose an operator to connect each pair:
  • AND narrows the search by requiring that both fields you specify be found in the records retrieved.
  • OR broadens the search by allowing retrieval if at least one field is present in the records retrieved.
  • NOT restricts the search by preventing the specified field from appearing in the records retrieved.

• Searches are run from top to bottom: The Term+Faculty search is done first, then the school search is added to that.
• Exception: In a search for all three fields where Term+Faculty are joined by AND or NOT and Faculty+School are joined by OR, the OR search is done first.

General Tips

• Searching in the research interests index is not case sensitive.

• To broaden your search and retrieve more records, try one or more of the following:
  • Term search with
  • Term search with *
  • Name search with *
  • School search without specifying department or division
  • Search on one field only (Term, Faculty, or School)
  • Search on multiple fields, but combine searches with OR

• To restrict your search and retrieve fewer records, try:
  • Term search with   or  
  • School search that specifies department or department+division
  • Search on multiple fields, combining searches with AND or NOT

Return to Search