How do I narrow my search?

There are three quick ways you can narrow your search:

• Use the "Refine Your Search" options on the left-hand side to limit by Availability, Resource Type, Creation Date, Subject, Journal Title, Language, Location, Author/Creator, Collection, and MESH. In addition, choosing the grey checkbox or red checkbox beside each filter option allows you to include or exclude items in each category.
• Put phrases inside quotation marks to search for words in a specific order, such as: "Biochemistry Viruses".
• Choose "Advanced Search" to limit your search to a specific journal (volume and issue), a specific author, or many other options. 
• Here are more search tips:

Phrase Searching

OneSearch allows for phrase searching with the use of " ". The query "flow cytometry" will find results with that exact phrase.

Boolean Operators

OneSearch offers Boolean operations: AND, OR, NOT.

By default, all terms in a search are combined with the AND operator. To expand the results set, use the OR operator. "Nanoscience OR nanotechnology " will return items that contain either term.

This can be combined with quoted terms such as "nanoscience" OR "nanotechnology ".

To exclude items in OneSearch, use the NOT operator before a term. When used in the following query "cytogenetics NOT plants" the results will not include the term "plants".

Parentheses

Parentheses can be used to group search terms and order the precedence of how the query is interpreted by the search system. Left-to-right precedence is usually used in case of multiple Boolean operators, unless parentheses are used. For example, “CRISPR AND (genetics OR genomics)” will search for records that contain the terms CRISPR and either genetics or genomics. Without the parentheses, ““CRISPR AND genetics OR genomics” will search for records that either contain both terms CRISPR and genetics or only contain the term genomics.

Wildcards

Searches can be performed using the wildcards ? and *.

The question mark ? will match any one character and can be used to find "Olsen" or "Olson" by searching for "Ols?n".

The asterisk * will match zero or more characters within a word or at the end of a word. A search for "Ch*ter" would match "Charter", "Character", and "Chapter". When used at the end of a word, such as "therap*", it will match all suffixes "therapeutic", "therapies", "therapist", "therapy", etc.

Simple Search

The single search box in OneSearch (Simple Search on the main OneSearch page) will search across many fields automatically. For example, entering an ISBN (for books), ISSN (journals), DOI (articles), PMID (PubMed citation number), or Call Number will bring back associated records.

With the Simple Search you can choose to search across Everything, Library Catalog, or Articles only. Additional dropdown menus below the search box allow you to limit search by material type, results that contain the exact phrase or begin with the query words, and limit the search to specific parts of the record (anywhere in the record, title, author/creator, subject, ISSN, or user tags).

Select the microphone icon to use the “Search by voice” option. With a microphone enabled, the search form will transcribe spoken words to text and then search for those terms.

Advanced Search

In Advanced Search you can search by specific fields, use Boolean operators, parentheses, wildcards, and quotes. Choose to limit the search across Everything, Library Catalog, or Articles, and add additional limits using dropdown menus (material type, language, and date range). For each search line, choose which field to search in (any field, title, author/creator, subject, ISSN, or user tags) and whether results will contain, exactly match, or begin with the search term. Combine each search line with a Boolean operator, and add new lines as needed.

To perform a broad search with a wildcard in the Advanced Search, enclose the * wildcard in quotes and select at least one filter. For example, enter “*” in the search line and choose from the dropdown Material Types>Sound Recordings to find all records labeled as sound recordings.

How can I find specific items in OneSearch?

OneSearch is helpful when you want your search to locate information from all types of materials. If you are looking for a specific item, try these options:

• From the Simple Search or Advanced Search, limit your search to only within the title of an item.
• Enclose your title in quotes so it is searched as a phrase.

Here are some alternate paths to the specific items:

• If you are not finding a specific online journal title in OneSearch, try searching our Journals list.
• Specific electronic books may be found using our Books search.
• To locate specific databases, use our Databases List.
• If you are not able to locate a particular print book, audio book, or movie, please try our Library Catalog (or filter by Availability>Help library).
• If you continue to have difficulty locating an item, please contact us.

How can I filter all the results in OneSearch to just include scholarly resources?

• You can limit your results to more scholarly resources, including peer-reviewed journals, using the "Refine Your Search" options on the left-hand side of the screen.
• If you are searching a current event topic, you'll get many newspaper articles. Choose to exclude Newspaper Articles under the Resource Type filter option. Also use the options under Resource Type and Subject filters to include and exclude particular formats or topics to refine your results.
• Please note that not all items in peer-reviewed journals are peer-reviewed. For example, editorials and book reviews are usually not peer-reviewed, but most items such as journal articles will be.

Why is a link not always available under "NCIF Full Text Online" in OneSearch? How do I get to the full text?

There are many different reasons why you may not be able to click through to the full text of an article:

• Full text articles are sometimes withheld from the online versions of the database by the publisher or author.
• The citation appears in a database before the publisher has made the full text available.
• There is an error in the citation
• The library does not have a subscription to the online version of the journal in question.
• Sometimes the coverage dates are not supplied in the Library's data.
• In the case of a very recent article, the text may not yet be loaded on the publisher's website.

Here are some alternate paths to the full text:

• Try accessing the journal through the library's journal list directly and search by title or author or go to the relevant issue and browse the list of articles.
• If the Library does not own an item, ask the library staff for assistance.

Why are there multiple links to full text?

The same journal is often available in more than one database. 

When I click to get full text, sometimes I end up on the journal's home page or table of contents. Can't I go directly to the article?

Some publishers do not allow direct linking at the journal article level. In this case you may have to navigate through the publisher's website to retrieve the article you need. So, getting to full text may take a few extra clicks.

All I want to find are books. How can I do this?

• From the Simple Search or Advanced Search limit your search to only Books (choose from the All Items dropdown menu under Simple Search and Material Type dropdown menu under Advanced Search).
• Use the "Resource Type" option on the left side of the OneSearch results page and choose Books.
• Use the Books search menu.

How do I clear the search refinements I have chosen for all of my searches?

The search refinements you add will be automatically cleared after each search, unless you choose the “Remember all filters” option on the left side of the results page. In order to clear the search refinements and turn off “Remember all filters”, you will need to click the "Reset filters" option.

How long do the saved items stay in the folder?

Any saved items will be available for the duration of your search session, unless you are logged into your account. If you would like to save your items beyond the end of the session, log into your account (choose “Sign in” in the upper right corner of the page and log in with you NIH Login or Scientific Library Account), and you can then save items permanently under the My Favorites section.

Once logged into your account, you can also add labels to your saved records, save search queries under the My Favorites section, and set the saved queries as email alerts or RSS feeds to receive updates.

What citation styles does the citation formatter support?

When the Citation option is selected for individual records, citations can be viewed and copied in the following formats:

• MLA (7th edition)
• MLA (8th edition)
• APA (6th edition)
• Chicago/Turabian (16th edition)
• Harvard

I could not find any relevant resources, what should I do?

Although OneSearch does contain information from most of the Scientific Library's databases, there is some information that is not included in OneSearch. Specialized or comprehensive research should be done in the Scientific Library's subject-specific Databases, For information about which databases are best for your subject area, consult our Research Guides, or contact us.

How can I email or export records from OneSearch?

To email an individual item, click the envelope icon next to the item and enter the desired email address when prompted. To export an individual item, click the paper-shaped icon with an arrow inside to export the item citation in RIS format (for EndNote and other citation manager software).

To email or export a group of items, click the checkbox next to each item in your results list. Choose the “…” icon in the menu above the results list, and then choose to print, export to RIS, or email the selected item citations.

Can I sort my results by date?

Yes. Under the “Refine your results” menu to the left of your results list you can use the “Sort by…” pull down menu to change the sort from relevance to date (Date newest or Date oldest).

How do I report problems with OneSearch?

 Contact us with any questions, feedback, or problems. If you include the exact wording of any error message, it will help us to respond to you more quickly.