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UNDERSTANDING AND USING THE MEDICAL SUBJECT-HEADINGS (MESH) VOCABULARY TO PERFORM LITERATURE SEARCHES JAMA-JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION Lowe, H. J., Barnett, G. O. 1994; 271 (14): 1103-1108

Abstract

The United States National Library of Medicine's (NLM) MEDLINE database is the largest and most widely used medical bibliographic database. MEDLINE is manually indexed with NLM's Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) vocabulary. Using MeSH, a searcher can potentially create powerful and unambiguous MEDLINE queries. This article reviews the structure and use of MeSH, directed toward the nonexpert, and outlines how MeSH may help resolve a number of common difficulties encountered when searching MEDLINE. The increasing importance of the MEDLINE database as an information resource and the trend toward individuals performing their own bibliographic searches makes it crucial that health care professionals become familiar with MeSH.

View details for Web of Science ID A1994NE22800033

View details for PubMedID 8151853