Expert Searching in the Google Age by Jankowski Terry Ann;

Author:Jankowski, Terry Ann;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: undefined
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Published: 2012-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

Medical Subject Headings (MeSH)

MeSH, the controlled vocabulary developed and used by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to describe the subject content of materials in its databases, is perhaps the most familiar and most heavily used thesaurus in biomedical database searching. Mastering this system will give you transferrable skills for using other vocabularies. Complete information about MeSH can be found on the MeSH web site (www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh). Selected information is provided in this chapter to illustrate thesaurus structure and use by expert searchers. Many other thesauri and databases follow the same practices. The examples provided were accurate as of printing.

Originally developed in the 1960s, MeSH now contains over 27,000 terms and is updated annually to reflect changes in both subject matter and vocabulary. You can look for terms alphabetically or view them in 16 large subject categories (called trees) with more specific terms displayed beneath broader terms. The complete controlled vocabulary can be downloaded from the NLM site but most expert searchers rely on either of the two online versions, the MeSH database (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/mesh) or the MeSH browser (www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/MBrowser.html). Use the MeSH browser when you want to see complete indexing or application notes and dates and the MeSH database for quick search formulation.

A snapshot of the entry for “text messaging” is shown in figure 4.2. Notice how broader and narrower relationships between terms are graphically depicted through indentations as well as the numbering or classification system for each category. Subject headings may appear in more than one tree as shown by multiple numbers listed with the terms.

MeSH “Text Messaging” Record.

Source: “Text Messaging.” MeSH database. Accessed March 17, 2016. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/?term=text+messaging.

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