The first thing
you will need to do is choose the method AND search strategy
you wish to use that will yield the articles that you require. Within
the "Step 1: Restrict years and enter appropriate search terms..." box
you will see a series of radio buttons labeled "Search By:". This is
the area where you choose the method by which you will be
searching the data contained within the MANTIS Database.
Choosing
your METHOD
You have the following options:
ALL: Using the text entered into the Search Phrase
field, search for all articles that contain this text within the
title or abstract along with any articles that are indexed using
Medical Subject Headings(MeSH)/Supplemental Keywords that have also
been entered into the Search Phrase field. If the search
phrase field contained the text string "Back Pain AND Therapy" the
results would contain all records that have the words "Back Pain"
along with the word "Therapy" in the title OR abstract ALONG with
any article that has been indexed with the words "Back Pain" AND
"Therapy" since those words are Medical Subject Headings.
TITLE: Using the text entered into the Search Phrase
field, search for all articles that contain this text within the
title of the article ONLY. If the search phrase field contained
the text string "Back Pain AND Therapy" the results would contain
all records that have the words "Back Pain" along with the word
"Therapy" in the title of that record.
TITLE & ABSTRACT: Using the text entered into the Search
Phrase field, search for all articles that contain this text
within the title OR abstract of the article. If the search
phrase field contained the text string "Back Pain AND Therapy" the
results would contain all records that have the words "Back Pain"
along with the word "Therapy" in the title OR abstract of that
record.
HEADINGS/KEYWORDS: Using the text entered into the Search
Phrase field, search for all articles that have been indexed
using those Medical Subject Headings(MeSH)/Supplemental Keywords.
If the search phrase field contained the text string "Back Pain AND
Therapy" the results would contain all records that have been
indexed with the words "Back Pain" AND "Therapy".
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Choosing
your STRATEGY
The example uses the following strategy to search the MANTIS™
Database:
"*Pain AND Therapy OR Diagnosis NOT Case Report"
Choosing the proper search strategy is very important when trying to
retrieve the information you desire. Unfortunately there is not
specific set of rules one can follow to obtain the exact data they
wish. Usually searching takes some practice and, the more you
search, the better acquainted you will become with the information
available, the ways literature is indexed and the way it is
organized in a database like MANTIS™. Although, there are some
tools present that will aid in the development of a search strategy.
The first of these tools is the "wildcard"
symbol (*). This symbol is used to fill in unknown or ambiguous
sections of a word. It may be placed at the beginning or end of a
string of text. There is an example of this in the search strategy
used above (highlighted "*Pain"). Here the search engine
will include any Medical Subject Heading OR subheading ending with
the text "Pain". This includes "Pain", "Low
Back Pain" and "Back Pain". This symbol can be used
for many different reasons. One reason would be that the person
performing the search wishes to include many "similar"
keywords in the same search without having to type each one out and
joining each with a boolean operator (discussed below). Another
reason would include that the user is unaware of the proper
spelling, tense or synonym of the heading that s/he wishes to
include in the search strategy.
Note: Wildcards are not necessary with text
strings searches of the title or abstract of a record and are only
used when searching the database using headings and/or subheadings.
If one uses a wildcard within a search strategy that includes a
string search of the title and abstract, the wildcards (*) will
be removed from the search for that portion of the query.
The next tool that you have at your disposal are the boolean
operators. Using these allows a search to be broadened or
narrowed as desired. The following boolean arguments may be used in
your search strategy (as highlighted above):
AND: Combines terms where both terms must be present. The
search fields are combined with an "AND" operator. If
one enters "headache" in the search field followed by
"AND manipulation, orthopedic", the search results will
contain only articles indexed with both of those headings.
OR: Combines terms where any of the selected terms may
be present. One can join words or phrases using the operator
"OR" between words or phrases. For example, if one wants
to find articles that are indexed using either low back pain or
sciatica, one could type "low back pain OR sciatica".
NOT: Excludes articles indexed with that heading. For
example, if one want to find articles that deal with treatment of
low back pain, but not articles that are about surgical methods,
one could enter the heading "low back pain-th NOT
surgery" OR "low back pain AND therapy NOT surgery"
in the search field.
 The
final tool that will be discussed is the Find Button.
This button, illustrated to the right, is used to locate the proper
Medical Subject Headings OR Subheadings to include in your search
strategy. If you have an idea of the word you wish to use in your
search but are not completely sure of it's spelling or form, the
find button will help you locate the proper term and insert it back
into the search phrase field. This button can be found to the left
of each field to which it is associated and can be used to help you
select an appropriate:
Heading
Journal
(publication)
Author
Name
For more information on using the Find Button, please see the MANTIS™
Find Button Tutorial.
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Restricting
Your search to specific YEARS
The
final piece of of the puzzle for this step will be to restrict the
years from which you wish to search. There are two pull-down menus
that allow you to pick the year to begin the search AND a year to
end the search. The title of this area is "Restrict Search to
Years:". Once you have chosen a beginning and end year, this
section will be complete and you will have to option to move to the
next (optional / advanced ONLY) step in performing a search of the
MANTISTM Database.
NOTE: When restricting years, the beginning and end
year are included in the search. For example: If you use the years
1990 AND the year 2000, the results screen will include all articles
that match your search strategy and were published from January,
1990, until December of the year 2000.
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The
first field you will find here is the Discipline field that
allows you to restrict a search to articles published within
journals of a specific discipline. Please note that, by adding a
keyword like "Chiropractic" to a search strategy, you
are essentially accomplishing the same task as selecting
"Chiropractic" from the pull down menu under this
section. There are many options here and they all correspond to
the varying disciplines of literature indexed and included in the
MANTIS™ Database.
The
second field you will find is the Language field that
allows you to restrict a search to specific languages in which the
article was written. Please note that the MANTIS™ Database
contains a majority of articles published in the English language
and that many published in other languages have abstracts that are
also in English.
The
final section of the display options is where you describe the Order
you wish to view your results. The following options are available