CINAHL Users – Make the Transition to EBSCO

EBSCOHostAs of January 2009, CINAHL, the premier nursing and allied health bibliographic database, will be available only through the EBSCOhost search interface. Though the look and “feel” of the EBSCOhost interface is different from that of CINAHL’s current interface, Ovid, users will continue to have access to CINAHL’s familiar search tools. Below is a table listing the names (and functions) of selected search tools available in Ovid CINAHL, and their equivalents in EBSCOhost CINAHL.

To access CINAHL EBSCOhost, go to the HSLS home page. Type “CINAHL” into the search.HSLS text box and click on the Search button. At the top of your search results, find the HSLS Electronic Resources box – it will contain a link that takes you to EBSCOhost CINAHL.

Ovid CINAHL

Function

EBSCOhost CINAHL

Map term to subject heading

Find a CINAHL subject heading

Suggest subject terms

Explode

Expands a subject heading search to include more specific related subject headings

Explode

Focus

Limits search to records where the subject heading is a major focus of the article

Major concept

Scope

A brief definition of a subject heading

Scope

Subheadings

Limits search to records where the subject heading includes a chosen qualifier

Qualify subheadings

Limits

Limit results by publication date, language, etc.

Revise/Refine search

Search History

Displays all completed searches

Search History/Alerts

Results Manager

Print, email, save or export search results

Add to Folder

Saved Searches, Auto-alert (using Ovid account)

Save searches online for use at a later time

Saved Searches, Search Alerts, Journal Alerts (using ESCBOhost account)

If you would like additional tips on using CINAHL EBSCOhost, consider attending our new class “Transitioning to EBSCO CINAHL”.

~ Mary Lou Klem

Posted in the 2008 Issue