The first thing you need to do when collecting terms is to search for the correct keywords. Most literature databases use controlled terms, also called keywords, but the way in which they are used may vary.
PubMed uses Medical Subject Headings (MeSH terms). These controlled vocabulary thesaurus terms are used for indexing articles for PubMed. These terms are assigned to an article and provide information about the article’s content. In PubMed the assigned terms all belong to a setlist of keywords: the MeSH Database.
Search the MeSH Database to find relevant keywords related to the aspects of your research question.
The MeSH database has a large number of different features. The box 'More about MesH' shows more information about other MeSH features that may be useful for your search.
Make a note of all the useful terms for each aspect in your logbook. Use OR between the different terms about the same aspect. See the Combining tab for further information on this topic.
Tip: Copy and paste the MesH term from the search builder to avoid misspellings in your logbook.
You’ll find useful information in the MeSH database about the terms that you can use.
1. Definition
Make sure you always double check the description to see whether the term is relevant to your topic. For example:
Anti-Bacterial Agents
Substances that reduce the growth or reproduction of BACTERIA.
Year introduced: 2004(1963)
2. Treeview
Keywords are sorted in the MeSH database according to a treeview, showing the position of the term in a hierarchy. It can be useful to examine terms located higher in the tree to see what they cover. You might find that these terms are more appropriate to your query. On the other hand, you might also benefit from terms located lower in the tree to help you find articles that are far more specific. For example:
3. Explosion
The standard setting in PubMed is to search for a term including all narrower terms below it in the hierarchy. You may opt to omit these narrower terms from your search by ticking the box:
Do not include MeSH terms found below this term in the MeSH hierarchy
A web article about the usefulness of the explode option in PubMed.