Many of our medical and health related research databases are hosted on the Ovid platform. You can search the databases Medline, Embase and APA PsycINFO and many others. This search platform allows you to carry out basic searches (e.g. simple searches for article titles, authors or individual keywords) or more advanced searches using Boolean logic and advanced search techniques.
The video to the right demonstrates how to run an multi-field search on Medline on the Ovid platform.
Access Ovid databases here
The database Medline is available through several different platforms, including Ovid that we covered above. PubMed is a freely available website where you can search Medline. Becoming familar with PubMed is recommended as you will be able to use it to search for literature once you finish your programme, while working in clinical practice. It offers lots of helpful features to help you get better results.
Watch the video to the right for a demonstration of how to run an advanced search on PubMed.
Ovid is an advanced search platform allowing you to perform sophisticated literature searches. The Ovid platform provides access to a number of different research databases including Medline (Ovid), APA PsycInfo and EMBASE.
It is good practice to search each database individually. Searching more than one database at a time will disable the thesaurus feature and is not advisable for comprehensive systematic searching.
Once you have selected the database you wish to search you will see there are a number of different types of search options available, each allows you to perform a different type of search. Using Multi-field or advanced search is recommended for systematic searches. For in depth guidance on searching Ovid explore the Searching Ovid LibGuide.
The Multi-field search option allows you to find keywords or phrases in a particular field such as author, title or abstract as well as combing concepts together to build a more complex search. You can choose the fields to search by using the drop-down menus on the right, and the combination options using the drop-down menus on the left.
Applying limits to your search:
Limits offer the option to refine your search according to criteria that are difficult to search using keywords – e.g. the type of article, publication date, age group, language of publication, etc. You can select one or more, click Search and your limited search will appear as an additional line in your search history. Click the Additional Limits link to view a selection of all the limits.
Once you have run your search you can apply limits to increase the relevancy of your search results. You can filter your search results using the grey bar on the left side of the screen. For example, you can limit by date or publication type.
Top Tip: Applying limits one at a time, this allows you to see the effect each limit has on the number of results.
Each reference will have a check for this at Exeter button, click on the link to see if the full text is available (not everything is!).
A new window will open to check if full text is available and provide a link if access is available. You may need to click on the document link (some browser pop-ups prevent automatic opening) to be directed to the full text.
EBSCOhost is a search platform allowing you to perform sophisticated literature searches. It provides access to a number of different research databases including SportDiscus and Cinahl complete. The default search option is multi-field.
Repeat steps 1 and 2 for the second set of search terms. If you need additional rows, click the Plus button 
.
Select a Boolean operator (AND, OR, NOT) to combine your search.
Click the Search button. The Result List displays.
In January 2026, we will be switching to a new user interface for the platform EBSCOhost. You can find lots of guidance and video tutorials on the new interface in the EBSCOhost Quick Start Guide. The library have also produced a video on Advanced Search in the new CINAHL interface, which can be viewed below.
University of Exeter LibGuide is licensed under CC BY 4.0
