Ovid Hints:
Printing, Saving, and E-mailing your OVID Results
After you have refined your Ovid search to a reasonably-sized list of relevant citations, you will probably want a hard copy of your results. Ovid gives you three options for this output: Display (to print), Email, and Save. Ovid allows you to tailor your output, so there are several choices to make. The feature in Ovid that provides this functionality is called Citation Manager and appears at the bottom of most Ovid screens.
The Citations box allows you to select which citations from your search that you want to print. The option All on this page will print the ten citations shown in brief format above the Citation Manager. The option Selected (all pages) allows you to review your search results and select only the items of interest for printing, saving, or e-mailing. This is Ovid's default setting, and it must be changed if it is not the option you want. The All in this set option lets you output all the results of your search in one easy step. The number given in parentheses in this option reminds you how many citations will be forthcoming. The Range option allows you to specify which citations are to be printed and is especially helpful if you want to print, save, or e-mail more than the 800 maximum that the system allows.
The Fields box defaults to the most popular option, Citation + Abstract. You may print less information than that by selecting the Citation Only option, which will not include the abstract. You can print more information by selecting one of the three bottom options. Use of the Citation + Abstract + Subject Headings option can be helpful if you are using a database to manage your bibliographies and want to be able to sort or search by subject heading. Complete Record just as the name implies allows the printing of the entire database record. The Select Fields option lets you tailor your output to suit your needs.
The Citation Format box default should be changed if you will be saving your citations and entering them into management software such as EndNote, ProCite, or Reference Manager. Your software's documentation should tell you which formats it can accept.
At the bottom of the Citation Format box is a check box where you have the option to Include Search History with your print-out. The Search History is a list of the terms you have searched and a record of the search results. Having a copy of the search history may be important if you are sharing your results with another person or if you are not satisfied with the results and want to consult with a librarian to see if they can be improved.
The Save Format box defaults to DOS or Windows operating systems. Options for Macintosh and UNIX are also available.
At the bottom of Citation Manager are two drop down menus that allow you to change the order in which the citations are produced. The default order in Ovid is to print the citations most recently added to the database first. The Sort by: function gives two opportunities to override this default. You can select which field of the record to sort by and indicate whether the sort is to be ascending (A-Z, 1-9) or descending (Z-A or 9-1). The sort I use most frequently works in ascending order on the source field (which begins with the name of the journal) so that my printout is sorted in alphabetical order by the name of the journal, which is the way the journals are shelved in the Library.
Finally, by clicking in the Action box, you execute the options you have made in the other boxes, and you receive your output.
Ovid uses the print capability of your browser, so in order to print your citations in the format and style you have chosen, you first must Display them. This turns all of the citations that you wish to print (with abstracts and other fields, if desired) into an organized page that your browser will then print easily.
Clicking on the Email icon in the Action box will bring up a screen where you must enter the e-mail address to which the citations will be sent. It also asks for a sender's address and gives you the opportunity to create a meaningful subject line for the e-mail document and to include a message to the recipient of the citations.
Clicking on the Save icon will give you a screen to indicate the drive and filename you wish to give the data. You may need to add or change the file extension that is supplied by the system to one that is recognizable to wordprocessing software (.txt should be used for DOS or Windows based programs).
After you have used the system for a while, these selections will become automatic for you, and you will be better able to take advantage of some of the customization features built into the Ovid system.
If you have any questions about these or any other Ovid features, please call the Library. The Reference Department at the Isché Library can be reached at 568-6102 or 568-8339. For the Dental Library call 619-8507.
-- Mary Marix
mmarix@lsumc.edu link removed