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Medicine (MBBS): Databases

What is a database?

A database is a collection of information (e.g. journal articles, references to book chapters, newspaper articles, directives, full-text patents) which you can search in a number of ways such as by keyword, author, title.

They are very useful for finding information on specific topics for your assignments and dissertations.

Image © Ulster University

 

Go to Advanced Search Tips for a guide to searching selected databases more effectively.

Go to Connecting search terms with AND, OR, NOT  for a guide to combining search terms using Boolean logic functions.

Capsule

 

Capsule is a clinical case-based learning resource which combines trusted clinical cases, medical scenarios and analytics to drive medical knowledge across the entire curriculum.  The video below provides further details.

Contact the School of Medicine for access details.

Speaking Clinically

 

Speaking Clinically is a video archive of patients talking openly about their medical conditions. It can be used as a teaching aid or for self-directed study. Click here to find out more about the resource.

As an MBBS Student at Ulster University, you will receive an individual email enabling you to register and access Speaking Clinically. 

If you really must Google, use Scholar!

To make the best use of Google, we recommend using Google Scholar. This limits results to higher quality academic resources;  such as peer reviewed journals and research papers.

Looking for help on how to get the best out of Google Scholar?  Take a look at Google Scholar's Search Tips.

Want to check if our Library can provide full text from Scholar? Follow these steps:

Click on the Google Menu icon in the top left corner of the screen:

Next click on the Google Settings icon, .

Select Library Links and search for ulster university.

Save the preferences displayed.  This way, you will see links to full text within our electronic journals collection in your searches.

We also have a short video to explain how to set this up. 

Google Scholar Search

USearch

Looking for a few journal articles to get your research started?  USearch is a great place to start.

PubMed

PubMed is the US National Library of Medicine's information portal. It is a very good source of reliable scholarly, academic material such as journal articles, theses and reports. It will link to freely available material where available but you may be asked to pay for full text.

Looking for help on how to get the best out of PubMed?  Take a look at the PubMed user guide.

Box of Broadcasts

Allows staff and students to record programmes from over 75 free-to-air channels; and search the archive of over 2.2 million broadcasts.

Click on the image below to go to the Learning on Screen training videos to help you set up, search and retrieve films and other broadcast material in Box of Broadcasts (BoB)