Public Health

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

• Major bioinformatics databases, software tools, and related literature provided by out MolBio Information Service

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.

Access PubMed

Avoid hitting a paywall: Use the HSLS link for PubMed to ensure the best possible access to the full text of articles.

Handouts and classes

We offer several ways to help you become more efficient and effective when searching PubMed for research articles. 

Before you search, take a little time to think about your research question. Who/what do you want to study? Are you interested in an intervention or exposure of some sort? The PI/ECO+ form can help you work through key components of a research question as well as help you to construct the start of smart search.

• Painless PubMed self-paced learning 
  • Upon completing this class you should be able to:
    • Describe when you should use PubMed and how to access it
    • Describe the basic back-end function of PubMed and how you can leverage understanding of it to improve your experience
    • Tailor your PubMed search query to get more relevant results
    • Broaden or narrow a search in PubMed
    • Navigate search results in PubMed
    • Save and share searches and search results in PubMed
• Create and customize a My NCBI account (HSLS Library Guide)
  • A My NCBI account, once customized following the instructions, allows you to go to PubMed.gov and login so you will have the best possible access to the full text of articles.
    • Create and Customize a My NCBI account (Word document)

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:
  • PubMed Quick Start Guide
  • PubMed Tutorials
  • PubMed Help Manual
  • My NCBI Help Manual (personal account for saving PubMed searched, citations, and personalizing PubMed functions)

Search PittCat using the text box from the HSLS home page

PubMed full text access

If you use the HSLS Library PubMed link, when you click on a record title, you will see the Links @ Pitt-UPMC button. Click on it rather than the publisher button to avoid hitting a paywall if you are off campus. 

• You won't hit a paywall if an article is available from PubMed Central (PMC) or is otherwise and open access article.
• If you want to go directly to PubMed, create and customize a My NCBI account (Library guide) to ensure you have access to the full text of articles.