PubMed

MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) is the NLM controlled vocabulary thesaurus used for indexing articles for PubMed.

Why use the MeSH Database:

1. You need to create a search that can be reproduced by others for publication or research. The best way to create a search that can be reproduced would be to use MeSH controlled vocabulary. 
2. Broad topic: Your topic is too broad and you want to look at the MeSH vocabulary tree to see additional terms. 
3. Narrow topic: You've narrowed your topic too much and need ideas on how to expand the topic. 

Access:

1. MeSH Database:
   1. You can go directly to the MeSH Database of controlled vocabulary.
2. PubMed Searches:
   1. You can add MeSH vocabulary to your searches within PubMed. 
   2. To find the MeSH terms, click on an article and scroll down. 
   3. Once you see the list of MeSH terms, then click on the word and you will see three options. From here, you can either:
      1. Search this term in PubMed. It will search just that one term. 
      2. Search in MeSH. It will search this term in MeSH and show you the description, vocabulary tree, and other information. 
      3. Add to Search. You can add this MeSH term to your search box. You could add multiple MeSH terms you see in this article and other articles and build your search this way. 
      4. 
3. Advanced search page on PubMed:
   1. You can use the advanced search page on PubMed to build out your search using MeSH terms. 
      1. When you use this, click the "All Fields" and type MeSH. 
         1. 
      2. Select "MeSH Major Topics" or "MeSH Terms"
         1. Confirm you have selected one of the above fields.
         2. Next, you want to type the word into the search term box.
         3. Then click Show Index. 
         4. Select your MeSH term and keep building your search string
      3. Note: You will not see the definition for the MeSH terms. You will need to use the MeSH Database to see the descriptions and the vocabulary tree.