Database Guide - Embase

You can use Embase to identify recent articles and conference papers related to medical and pharmaceutical research. It covers all areas of medicine, with particular strengths in pharmacology and toxicology, biotechnology and medical devices, forensic medicine, and surgery.

Due to its subject coverage, Embase can be useful for certain engineering and chemistry topics as well as the health and medical sciences.

Embase is particularly useful for systematic reviews combined with MEDLINE and PsycINFO as they all use the same Ovid search interface. Approximately a third of the content on Embase is not found on Medline/Pubmed, so for an in-depth medical literature review, it is essential to search both.

• 1. Go to LibrarySearch 
     
     
  2. Log in using your CCCU username and password. If you are away from campus, or connecting with your own device over Wi-Fi, you will need to include @canterbury.ac.uk after your CCCU username.
     
     
  3. Select Find Databases, then click on E, finally click on the link to Embase (Ovid) to open it in a new tab.

If your search only involves one or two words, the basic search is fine, but we recommend using the “Advanced Search” or “Multi-Field Search” options, particularly if you are doing a literature review. Advanced Search allows you to enter your search words one at a time and then tell the database how you want it to combine them. Multi-field search allows you to put in all your words at once.

Advanced search is the default option, and is how the database is designed to work. To use this, search for one concept at a time, choosing whichever option(s) most closely match your topic at each stage. Then:

• Click Search History at the top of the page.
• Select the check boxes next to the concepts you want to combine.
• Click AND to merge the searches if you want both words or ideas to appear in your search.
• Click OR to merge the searches if you don't mind which word or phrase appears - for example, searching for articles which relate to teenagers or adolescents.
• For example, at the time of writing, a search for laparoscopic appendectomy finds 4,151 items and a search for analgesia finds 224,100. When combined together using OR, Embase finds 216 articles which match.

Multi-field search provides three boxes for search words. It is a faster way to search, and will often retrieve more articles, but may not be as accurate. This allows you to search for multiple concepts simultaneously:

Ensure that the drop-down boxes between the three search boxes read AND.
Enter one concept into each box (you can leave a box blank if you need to).
If there are multiple words for the same concept, enter than into the same box with OR between them. For instance, teenagers OR adolescents.
Narrowing your search

Once you search, you can narrow the selection down using options in the left-hand column. The most useful ones are “Years”, to select the date, and “Publication Type” which allows you to narrow the results down to particular types of information such as Articles or Conference Papers.

Each item will have an abstract you can read, which will highlight the words you searched for. If you decide you’d like to read the whole thing, click the “Full Text Finder” link which will check to see whether we have the article available through our online library.

See our 5-minute Using the Embase database video (also embedded further down this page) for a brief demonstration of the use of this database.

Alternatively, see the video on EMBASE Advanced Techniques from OVID - this is a longer video (15 minutes), but goes into much greater depth on details such as using subject headings in your search.

Try searching Embase (Ovid) by following the steps outlined below. You’ll practice using some of the most common functions and be ready to search for information for your assignments.

1. Using the Advanced Search, search for the keyword heartburn. Once taken to the mapping page, you will see a list of subject headings. Click on a subject heading to view more general and more specific terms within the Emtree thesaurus (Note: sometimes you may want to search for your exact word rather than using Emtree headings, simply choose the term at the very end of the list e.g. heartburn.mp search as Keyword (Hint: not sure what the blue term means/covers? Try the Scope icon on the right-hand side). Click Continue on this and the following page.
   
   
2. Clear the Advanced Search box and search for the keyword omeprazole. Once again, choose the Emtree term that best matches. Click Continue on this and the following page.
   
   
3. Using the Search History function (located above the search box, in the top left-hand corner of the screen), combine your keywords by checking the box next to each item and using the AND operator. How many results do you find?
   
   
4. If you have a lot of results you can refine your results by date in the left-hand pane by choosing one of the date ranges offered or setting your own specific year range.
   
   
5. Find an interesting article from your result list and see if you can access the full-text of the the article.
   
   
6. Reflect on the type of information appearing in your search results. How will you use this information in your assignments? How could you make your search more specific?

The database platform (OVID) does not yet have a dedicated accessibility information page.

If you wish to read an abstract when you are using a screen reader on Embase, the site works best if you select the “View Abstract” button rather than the “Abstract Reference” link. You can also click the title of the relevant article, which brings up a much more detailed page.

Your Learning and Research Librarian will be able to help you make the best use of online resources. For detailed guidance, book a tutorial via the Learning Skills Hub.