TML News and Notes: Tips and Tricks
Tuesday, March 5
11:00 am - Noon, Sanger Hall B1-020
Have you tried the VCU Libraries Search box recently and noticed the new results format? Are you uncertain about what you have found? Please join us to learn about what you are searching and strategies for finding what you need. Registration is encouraged. Walk-ins are welcome. Register at Searching Primo
Tompkins-McCaw Library Orientation and Tour
Thursday, March 7
Noon - 1:00 pm, TML Room 2-006
Learn about the variety of resources and services available to you from the VCU Libraries. In these one hour sessions we`ll show you the most effective ways to find books, journals, and other information for research and provide an orientation to the Tompkins-McCaw Library and its services as well as offer a tour of the facility. Registration is encouraged. Walk-ins are welcome. Attendees may bring their lunch. Register at Library Tour
Brown Bag Lunch: The IRB - the Exempt, the Expedited, and the Full-Board
Wednesday, March 13
Noon - 1:00 pm, TML, Room 109
Understand the different levels of regulatory review required for research from Drs. Monika Markowitz, OHRP, and Betsy Ripley, IRB Chair. A second session will be scheduled to address specific questions from attendees. This session is free and open to the public. Seating is limited; advance registration is encouraged. The Whetting Your Appetite for Research Brown Bag series provides a forum for students, faculty, staff, and community partners engaged in research at VCU to gain a better understanding of the research process at VCU. Register at Brown Bag
Film Screening: Is Seeing Believing?
Thursday, March 14
Noon - 1:00 pm, TML Learning Center @ Hunton Student Center, Room 209
Horizon explores the strange and wonderful world of illusions - and reveals the tricks they play on our senses and why they fool us. We show how easy it is to trick your sense of taste by changing the colors of food and drink, explain how what you see can change what you hear, and see just how unreliable our sense of color can be. But all this trickery has a serious purpose. It is helping scientists to create a new understanding of how our senses work, not as individual senses, but connected together. Attendees may bring their lunch. Registration is encouraged. Walk-ins are welcome. Register at Film Screening
A couple of weeks ago there was a change made in PubMed that moved the limits/filters to the results screen on the left hand side. Now discovery tools have been added to the results page. The two tools that will be displayed are PubMed "Results by year" and PubMed Central "PMC images search" in the discovery column for all PubMed users on the right hand side. These tools are intended to help users access more of the information and image resources that are contained in PubMed. For more information click on the following link: PubMed Discovery Tools
For more info: PubMed Filters Sidebar Replaces the Limits Page / You Tube Video Link
The VCU Libraries Evidence Based Medicine Research Guide has links to many sources of information on EBM. Now there is a section on specific ways to search PubMed to find evidence based articles. If you haven't used Limits in PubMed, tried Clinical Queries, or set up Filters in myNCBI, you will find some illustrated instructions in the Searching PubMed for Evidence section.
If you have any other questions or would like to set up an appointment, please email us.
Steps to Import Using Citation Manager Option in PubMed
1) Be sure you are logged into your RefWorks account
2) Conduct your search in PubMed and select the citations you want to import
3) Locate the Send To Button (Upper Right Corner)
4) Select Citation Manage and Click Create File\
5) Save the File to Your Computer
6) Go To RefWorks , Click on References, and Select Import
7) Set Import Filter to NLM PubMed and make sure Database is PubMed
8) Go To Select File Box and Click on Browse Button
9) Locate Your File
10) Designate Place/Folder for the Citations (Optional)
· If you do nothing it will appear in the last imported folder
11) Click on
Import and You Should See an Indication in RefWorks that the citation has uploaded
In the British Journal of Nursing there was a series on written on writing for publication. While these articles appear in a nursing journal, many of the tips and points that are made in them are ones that are applicable to other disciplines as well. These can be found in the CINAHL and PubMed databases here in the library. The articles cover an array of topics when it comes to publishing and
are short and to the point so if you have a couple of minutes and are
thinking about doing some publishing, you may want to check them out. ____________________________________________________________________
Fowler, J. (2010). Writing for professional publication. part 1: Motivation. British Journal of
Nursing (BJN), 19(16),
1062
Fowler, J. (2010). Writing for professional publication. part 2: Subject matter. British Journal of Nursing (BJN), 19(17), 1121.
Fowler, J. (2010). Writing for professional publication. part 3: Following journal guidelines. British Journal of Nursing (BJN), 19(19), 1260.
Fowler, J. (2010). Writing for professional publication. part 4: Supporting your statements. British Journal of Nursing (BJN), 19(21), 1374.
Fowler, J. (2011). Writing for professional publication. part 5: Creating interest. British Journal of Nursing (BJN), 20(1), 49.
Fowler, J. (2011). Writing for professional publication. part 6: Writing the abstract. British Journal of Nursing (BJN), 20(2), 120.
Fowler, J. (2011). Writing for professional publication. part 7: Structure and presentation. British Journal of Nursing (BJN), 20(3), 190.
Fowler, J. (2011). Writing for professional publication. part 8: Targeting the right journal. British Journal of Nursing (BJN), 20(4), 254.
Fowler, J. (2011). Writing for professional publication. part 9: Using client case studies. British Journal of Nursing (BJN), 20(5), 330.
Fowler, J. (2011). Writing for professional publication. part 10: Publishing a project report. British Journal of Nursing (BJN), 20(6), 371.
Fowler, J. (2011). Writing for professional publication. part 11: Writing conference abstracts. British Journal of Nursing (BJN), 20(7), 451.
Fowler, J. (2011). Writing for professional publication.
part 12: Summary of the series. British Journal of Nursing (BJN), 20(8),
509.
Along with the new redesign of the TML website, we are pleased to introduce you to RefWorks 2.0. This new interface for our web-based citation management tool became the default version early this week, so you will be noticing some changes in the look and feel of RefWorks. Some of the major changes are listed below:
- Icons
- Lightboxes
- Quick Access Sidebar
The icons displaying on the References tab represent the most commonly used reference actions: Add to Folder, Global Edit, Delete, and Print. The icons displaying next to each reference vary somewhat depending upon type of view selected. For example, the icons for Standard View are: Add to My List, Edit, Cite, and View, while the icons for a citation style are: Get it @ VCU, Add to My List, Edit, and View.
The button choices vary according to the action selected, e.g., Edit Reference, Customize, Global Edit. A few lightboxes close automatically, but most require that you select the X in the upper corner.
This new feature can be expanded or closed to allow more or less screen space for your reference list. The sidebar provides you with a direct link to features such as Advanced Search, links to training materials direct from ProQuest, information on connecting to RefWorks via Facebook or Twitter, and a statistics section which gives a snapshot of your account including storage space used.
Write-n-Cite is the only feature which has not been updated yet and you can expect to see this operating in Classic mode through the end of the year.
As with all our resources, the best way to learn is to jump in and try it out! For additional information on working with the new interface, you will find instructions and tutorials on our RefWorks page at http://www.library.vcu.edu/refworks. We also maintain a Blackboard course which will guide you through the basics of using RefWorks 2.0.
Did you notice that the Tompkins-McCaw Library homepage has changed? Check it out and let us know what you think!
In the "Search Collections" section of the new TML homepage, you will find quick links to some of our most popular resources, including PubMed, RefWorks, CINAHL, and Web of Science. "Search Collections" also includes the following links:
- Databases A-Z: View an alphabetical list of available databases
- Catalog: Search the VCU Libraries' Catalog
- Journals: Search for a journal by title or find a citation in the library's journal collection
- Articles: Search across 8 of VCU Libraries' most popular databases, including Academic Search Premier, PubMed, and CINAHL
- More: View additional topics on VCU Libraries' collections and resources
Do you have questions? Ask a Librarian! We also welcome your feedback on the new homepage.
The new TML home page provides you with quick access to PubMed with a direct search box. Just type in your search as you normally would and then click on 'Search'. For example, authors can be entered using last name and initial, e.g. Strauss JF, or you can type in a string of keywords, e.g. transcription factor SV40 hepatocellular carcinoma, or even a journal name and date, e.g. journal of neurotrauma 2011.
You also have the option of going to the PubMed Advanced Search page which includes the Search Builder, for adding and viewing terms in all fields, and the Search History, to go back to previous searches and combine sets.
The box has a direct link to MyNCBI as well, where you can sign in to view your saved searches, email alerts, and collections, and your Bibliography for NIH Grants.
We have also included the Single Citation Matcher in the PubMed search box. If you know any part of a citation, you can use this link to find your citation: any combination of journal, date, volume, issue, first page, author, or title word can be used.
Remember to always use the VCU Libraries link to go to PubMed so you will be able to see the 'Get It @VCU' button for access to our online full-text journals, our catalog of print journals, or easy access to ILLiad (our Interlibrary Loan service).
In April there was a New Author's Forum that was held here at TML. The speakers came from several different departments here on the VCU medical campus and have been successful publishing and also as editors. For those of you who are thinking of publishing or are new to academia, here is a tip sheet that provides some highlights of what was covered. These tips are included here as a PDF because to make it an entry would be quite long, and at least in the PDF format, you can have access to them when not online.The Tompkins-McCaw Library for the Health Sciences now has its own homepage! To help you navigate the new site, the librarians will be posting several blog entries highlighting the new features. 
If you have any questions about what the VCU Libraries can do for you, the "Using the Library" section in the lower left corner of the site will answer many of your questions and more:
- Needing a book or article not available through the VCU Libraries? The "Interlibrary Loan" link will take you to information about a service which will borrow books and articles from other libraries.
- Having a group study session? Locate one of TML's group study rooms with white boards and anatomical models under "Study Spaces".
- Presenting a poster at conference? Find information on printing your poster at TML in the Multimedia Collaboration Room, through the link "Multimedia Equipment".
- Finding feeds to new titles in the collection? Click on "Tools and Gadgets" to find a variety of tools to assist in conducting your research.
- Wanting to look at Medical Artifacts from home? View many Special Collections and Archives materials in the "Digital Collections" link.
- Not finding the answer here? Select "More" or feel free to Email Ask-A-Librarian to find the answer to your question!
Tompkins-McCaw Library will be providing research assistance and consultations in the Learning Center on the 2nd floor at Hunton Student Center (Room 209), MCV Campus. Librarians with expertise in the biomedical sciences will be available to help you find articles and other information for reports and research. Drop by from 9 a.m. - noon (Monday - Friday) or 1 p.m - 4 p.m. (Monday - Tuesday, and Thursday) to get expert help.
The TML Learning Center @ Hunton is open 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday-Friday, 12 to 6 p.m. Saturday, and 12:00 am - 10:00 pm Sunday. Computers and Pay for Print are available during these times. For more information or to schedule an appointment, call 828-3736 or email sdjones@vcu.edu. Walk-ins are welcome.
Anatomy.TV is an interactive 3D model of human anatomy online. Models can be rotated and layers can be peeled away to view medically accurate representations of anatomical structures. Clicking on different sections of an image will pull up labels and descriptive text along with links to videos and radiological images. Check out the handout!
MD Consult provides access to full-text clinical practice guidelines.
* View guideline articles published in the journals on MD Consult.
* Access guidelines from professional and governmental agencies via links to the Web.
* Browse by Topic, Specialty, or Authoring Organization.
Browse screenshots of PubMed on Flickr and scroll over highlighted features to learn more!
Go to the entire PubMed Flickr set.
After a false start, it looks like the redesigned PubMed is up and running. Tompkins-McCaw Library is offering classes to show you where things have moved, but if you can't make it to a class, there are some online tools from other sources that will help.
There are a couple of articles in the NLM Technical Bulletin explaining the changes:
PubMed Redesign
PubMed Now Using the Redesigned Interface
Also from NLM
The PubMed Basics trifold brochure (pdf link)
All the tutorials have been updated on the PubMed Online Training page
University of Washington Health Sciences Libraries created a comparison chart
There is a 3 minute YouTube video (except use the VCU Libraries page to get to PubMed)
As always, we will be happy to answer questions and arrange for large and small training sessions.
Call us 804-828-0636
Or email your question using the 'Ask a Librarian' online form
The 1st floor of TML is usually filled with students collaborating and using computers. It is a popular place for group discussions over lunch. But there are more study areas and more computers throughout the Library.
Up on the 2nd floor of TML you'll find some tables for quiet study, plus there are 8 computers, and in the front corner of the building, next to the Library Instruction Classroom, there is a Quiet Study Room (Rm 2-001).
From the 2nd floor you can also get to our Group Study Rooms - rooms with whiteboards, internet access, and some with DVD/VCRs, anatomical models, or plasma monitors for presentation practice. Check our web site for room details.
In the Basement there are another 10 computers as well as some study carrels and the Multimedia Collaboration Room (turn left when you leave the stairs or elevator and you'll see the sign - Rm B-037). There are self-service multimedia computers as well as group study seating. See our web site for multimedia software details. A soda machine is also in the Library Basement.
Find out more about our Group Study Rooms and Multimedia Collaboration Room, or take a look at a Library map at the TML web site.
Additional study space and computers are available in Hunton Student Center.
PubMed is one of the most heavily used search tools in the health sciences fields, and if you're anything like me, you stumble across articles all the time that you want to send to your friends and colleagues. But PubMed doesn't make it that easy for you to create a link that's easy to share. Depending on how you got to an article's result page, your web browser's location bar can show you either a massive, unwieldy link, or one that won't even lead to your article.
A URL shortening service called pmid.us can make quick work of linking to articles you find, with just one tiny piece of information: the article's PMID, a unique number assigned to every citation. You'll find the PMID of an article somewhere in every view of a search result. It's at the bottom of the abstract in the default AbstractPlus view, shown here:
Just copy the PMID to your clipboard, and paste it after http://pmid.us/ to form a link that will lead immediately to the PubMed abstract for the article. No muss, no fuss, and it'll fit easily in an e-mail or tweet.
pmid.us has some a few other tricks up its sleeve in addition to linking to a single abstract. You can also link to:
* multiple abstracts, by putting a plus sign between the PMIDs.
ex: http://pmid.us/2676911+6189501+10221304
* a full-text article, by adding full: before the PMID.
ex: http://pmid.us/full:10221304
* a list of related articles, by adding rel: before the PMID.
ex: http://pmid.us/rel:10221304
NCBI's Help Manual lists a native method of linking in to results which has a few more features up its sleeve, but is also more complicated to work with. The native method is clearly more powerful for linking to searches, but for a simple abstract or related article list, pmid.us will do the job very nicely.
Have you tried out pmid.us to make better URLs? Know a better way to link in to abstracts? Drop it in the comments and let us know.
- Andrew Bain
The National Library of Medicine began including the full names of authors in MEDLINE/PubMed citations to articles published in 2002. Beginning in May 2005 PubMed users were able to search for authors using their full first and last names (referred to here as full name). Please note that "first" name, sometimes called forename or given name, also includes middle names or initials. (Excerpt from NLM Tech Bull. 2009 Mar-Apr;(367):e12).
For the complete article see Skill Kit: Searching Full Author Names in PubMed®. NLM Tech Bull. 2009 Mar-Apr;(367):e12.
with Addeane S. Caelleigh, MA , Former Editor, Academic Medicine
Tuesday, July 22, 2008, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Publishing in peer-reviewed journals can be intimidating and often frustrating. This session is an overview of publishing in peer-reviewed research journals and will focus on how the process works and how to make it work for you. Topics covered included how editors make decisions, tips for improving your chances of a good review and/or publication, writing effective abstracts, tips for dealing with the editorial office, and online and print resources. Complete the workshop evaluation.
Note: All handouts are available in printable Adobe PDF format and require the Adobe Acrobat Reader for viewing and printing.
Group I: Journals, Peer-review
- How Journals Work and How to Make Them Work For You
- CSE's White Paper on Promoting Integrity in Scientific Journal Publications (ToC only)
- Uniform Requirements of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ToC only)
- Peer Review process--chart
- Reasons that Papers about Studies / Interventions Are Not Accepted
- Criteria for Authorship at Peer-reviewed Journals (examples from 5 journals)
Group II: Better Papers
- How to Build Better Papers for Peer-reviewed Journals
- Questions for Writing the First Draft of a Journal Article
- Writing an abstract
- Samples of abstracts
Group III: Tables and Graphs
- Graphical Designs
- Misleading graphic, 2005 from CNN
- Chartjunk - test pattern
Hands-on Exercises
- Hypothetical Dilemmas at Peer-reviewed Research Journals
- Exercises in plain writing
- Is Sliced Bread All it's Cracked Up to Be? A Randomized Control Trial
- Designing tables and figures
To search for books, journals, and audiovisual materials held by the VCU Libraries, use the VCU Library Catalog. The catalog allows you to search by title, author, keyword and subject. To determine the appropriate subject heading for a topic, consult the lists of Medical Subject Headings or Library of Congress Subject Headings in the libraries.
For example, consider using the medical subject headings to search for Cancer resources in the VCU Libraries catalog: neoplasms, oncogenes, antineoplastic agents, radiotherapy, neoplasm metastasis, clinical trials, carcinogens, oncologic nursing, radiation oncology, and cancer vaccines.
To search for materials from other libraries, use the Worldcat database on FirstSearch.
