Basics in literature searching: PubMed and other resources (26H04212c) ONLINE

Description

Gain essential skills for searching medical literature databases, with a focus on PubMed, the public access to the Medline database and one of the largest resources for medicine. Learn how to formulate precise research questions and conduct a step-by-step literature search. We’ll guide you through key medical sources and show you how to use them effectively. You’ll also pick up valuable tips and learn how to access electronic full texts, equipping you with the tools for an efficient and targeted literature search.

Contents:
• Formulating the question (with exercises)
• Documenting the search process
• Contents of medical literature resources (PubMed, Embase, Cochrane, Google Scholar, library catalogue, UpToDate and others)
• Working with Boolean search operators (AND, OR, NOT) (with exercise)
• Free-text searching (with exercise)
• Narrowing search results with filters
• Basic functions: Sort results; export results; access to full texts via swisscovery
• Precision and sensitivity

Course Information

Date
Thursday, May 7, 2026,
2:00 PM till 4:00 PM
Registration Opens
January 12, 2026
Registration Deadline
April 29, 2026, 10:00 PM
Course Fees
free
Trainer
Dr. Thomas Fürst
Organized by

University Medical Library
CH-4051 Basel

Tel.: 061 207 32 46
info-medb@unibas.ch

Target Group

Anyone interested in learning the basics of searching in medical literature databases: e.g. students, researchers and medical staff/clinicians.

About the Trainer

Dr. Thomas Fürst
Medical Information Specialist
University of Basel | University Medical Library

Feature

Note for medical students: The content of this course corresponds to the lecture that takes place in the 5th semester (POEM).

Location

Online via Zoom

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