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Public Health

Getting Help

Getting help at HSLS

Day to Day Questions

  • Use our Ask a Librarian service for help by phone, e-mail, or chat
  • Ask about any aspect of using the library or finding a book or article

Public health research assistance

  • Get help finding and managing information for your thesis, masters' essay, dissertation, or paper for publication
  • Contact Helena VonVille to schedule an appointment with her via our appointment scheduler or send Helena an email.

Molecular Biology Assistance

Data services assistance

  • Do you need a data management plan or guidance on storing data? Data Services is the group to ask.

Consider signing up for a class

  • We offer a wide variety of classes at HSLS, from bioinformatics to citation software to PubMed. All are free.

Search PubMed Efficiently

HSLS PubMed Handouts and Resources

At HSLS, we have a special link we use to access PubMed to ensure that you will be able to retrieve the full text of articles without creating an account at PubMed and logging in. However, you may find it useful to create an account. Instructions on doing so are found below.

We offer several ways, described here, to get assistance when searching PubMed for research articles. You can also take advantage of the handouts and videos we have developed. 

  • Create and Customize a My NCBI account
  • Painless PubMed 3-part video series from HSLS
    • Part 1: Introduction & Getting Started with PubMed (Panopto video; 10m 32s) 
      • By the end of this video, you should be able to:
        • Describe what is in PubMed
        • Access PubMed and the full text of articles from the HSLS home page
        • Create a My NCBI account
        • Navigate the PubMed screen 
    • Part 2: Develop your search strategy (video; 28m 42s) 
      • Download the PI/ECO+ Search Planning Form (MS Word) to help develop your search strategy
      • By the end of this video, you should be able to:
        • Articulate your research question
        • Create a basic search using Boolean operators
        • Describe what MeSH terms are
        • Broaden/Narrow a search
    • Part 3: Other PubMed features (video; 15m 39s) 
      • By the end of this video, you should be able to:
        • Use the Limits options
        • Search within a range of years 
        • Find similar articles

National Library of Medicine PubMed Training Resources

  • How PubMed Works 
    • The free class is offered via Moodle.
    • How PubMed Works On Demand is made up of 4 independent modules.
    • The individual modules are:
    • How PubMed Works: Introduction
    • How PubMed Works: Selection
    • How PubMed Works: MeSH (Medical Subject Headings)
    • How PubMed Works: ATM (Automatic Term Mapping)
  • Additional resources:

Access Full Text Articles & Ebooks

Search PittCat using the text box from the HSLS home page

Search for research articles and books using PittCat (Panopto video)

  • The video provides a demonstration of the "discovery system" used by the Pitt library systems and walks through many of the available features.
  • PittCat is designed to find book chapters, books, and articles available through the library systems.
  • After completing a search, use the filters left side to find the kind of materials you need.
  • Once you feel comfortable with your topic, consider moving to a subject specific database, such as PubMed or APA PsycInfo.

PubMed full text access

Locating full text when searching PubMed (Panopto video)