PubMed (and other database) searching top tips:
Questions to ask about your search results:
PubMed Tips: How-to guide; includes a PubMed exercise set (docx): Learn how to search PubMed more effectively!
Clinical Queries include structured searches, such as:
Systematic reviews on your topic are a gateway to more research literature and give you a sense of the body of knowledge on a topic.
Using the etiology filter is useful a "cause of disease" search.
Therapy encompasses any type of intervention.
Topic-Specific Queries are "canned" search strategies to fetch PubMed citation subsets and include:
Comparative Effectiveness;
Health Disparities;
Healthy People.
Remember those PubMed "Top Tips"? Many are applicable to the databases below as well as several other databases. 
Embase
Key Subjects: Medicine; Health; Pharmacology/Toxicology
Broad biomedical scope. Useful for medicine, genetics, infectious diseases, healthcare policy & management, and more.
» Embase does use a controlled vocabulary. Click Emtree above the search box to search or browse for terms.
» What's not in PubMed?
More non-US literature, better coverage of drug/toxicology topics ...
» Embase exercise (docx)
Global Health
Key Subjects: Global Health; Nutrition; Public Health
Citations in environmental and occupational health, food safety and hygiene, infectious diseases, medical microbiology, nutrition, public health, toxicology, zoonoses, and more. More international coverage than PubMed.
» Global Health does use a controlled vocabulary. Use the drop-down menu by the search box and select Descriptors then click Select from Thesaurus (the icon in the search box) to browse the thesaurus.
» What's not in PubMed?
Search by (relatively narrow) geographic settings, or country in which work published.
Agricola
Key Subjects: Nutrition; Agriculture
Covers agricultural economics, nutrition, hunger, food production, agricultural chemicals, etc.
» Agricola does not use a controlled vocabulary. Use the subject descriptor index to find terms, or focus your search by using title words.
» What's not in PubMed?
Nutritionally induced diseases, WIC program, women in rural development ...
Business Source Complete
Key Subjects: Business; Finance; Economics
Marketing, management, economics, finance, accounting, and more. Besides journal literature, BSC includes financial data, conference proceedings, case studies, investment research reports, industry reports, market research reports, country reports, company profiles, SWOT analyses, and more.
» BSC does use a controlled vocabulary. Click Subjects on the right side to browse the thesaurus.
» Subject terms/features not found in PubMed:
Search by company or industry, public health topics from a marketing point of view ...
EconLit
Key Subjects: Economics; Finance
The most comprehensive index to scholarly journal articles, books, and dissertations in economics and related fields.
» EconLit does use a controlled vocabulary. Click Thesaurus (above the search boxes) to find terms.
» Subject terms/features not found in PubMed:
Analysis of Health Care Markets, Actuarial Studies of Insurance Companies ...
PsycINFO
Key Subjects: Psychology; Behavior
Citations in psychology, behavior, and related disciplines.
» PsycINFO does use a controlled vocabulary. Click Thesaurus to search or browse terms.
» What's not in PubMed?
Economic security, community attitudes, test/measurement index ...
Sociological Abstracts
Key Subjects: Sociology; Social Welfare; Demography
Citations in demography, social psychology, and sociology.
» Sociological Abstracts does use a controlled vocabulary. Click Thesaurus to search or browse terms.
» What's not in PubMed?
Cultural capital, peer relations, victimization, family structure, action research, neighborhoods, social constructionism, ...
Scopus
Key Subjects: Multidisciplinary
Large, multidisciplinary database of citations to articles, conference papers, patents, and more.
» Scopus does not use a controlled vocabulary. Scopus uses author and other keywords.
» Subject terms/features not found in PubMed:
Excellent resource for cited reference searching; Journal Analyzer tool assesses journal performance.
Web of Science
Key Subjects: Multidisciplinary
Large, multidisciplinary database; links to cited articles and times cited are provided for retrieved articles.
» Web of Science does not use a controlled vocabulary; it uses author keywords and keywords assigned algorithmically.
» What's not in PubMed?
Scope of database is broad; excellent for cited reference searching: research is a conversation.
» Web of Science Cited Reference Searching exercise (docx)
Note that citation counts are affected by many things: recency of the article, where it was published, and some studies show that articles by men may be cited more than articles by women. (other studies do not show this difference, however)
Google Scholar
Key Subjects: Multidisciplinary
Citations in all topics.
» Google Scholar does not use a controlled vocabulary. Use Advanced Search by clicking the ▼ in the search box, then search for title words.
» What's not in PubMed?
Broad topical scope. But be aware that Google Scholar lacks:
» the ability to use iteration in developing search strategies,
» any indexing,
» bulk downloading or saving of records,
» a complete description of its contents.
Use the library catalog to find books (including online books), reports, etc. on your topic. Books, while not often where original research is published, can often provide an overview of a topic and get you started with some key articles:
The above are but a sample of the many databases available to find article and other citations.
See the Databases in Public Health web guide for more.
Ask a librarian for help if you are having trouble with your topic.
Online Newspapers & News Sources (UCB Library):
The UCB Library subscribes to thousands of online newspapers and news sources. This annotated guide lists several, including public health news sources, and links to the major dailies online.
Business Database Finder (UCB Library):
Many resources are available to find information on companies and industries. You may be particularly interested in IBISWorld Industry Market Research, which provides online full-text reports for over 700 U.S. industries.
Streaming Video Guide: Video Sources (UCB Library):
The Library offers several sources of streaming video, including Kanopy, Swank, and more.
Music: Listen & Watch (UCB Library):
Streaming audio and music performance video.
Off-campus access is limited to current UC Berkeley faculty, staff and students. Choose one of the following methods:
Library Proxy (aka EZproxy):
When you click on a link to an article, database, etc., from a library web page. you will be prompted to authenticate via CalNet.
If you click on an article (etc.) link found via a search engine or a non-UCB Library webpage, you should use this bookmarklet to access the licensed resource.
Virtual Private Network (VPN):
Download and install the VPN client to allow access the UC Berkeley licensed resources.
Make sure you select Library Access - Full Tunnel VPN when you log on.
VPN FAQ
Students: Problems setting up Library Proxy or VPN? Contact your librarian, or Student Technology Services: (510) 642-HELP, or sts-help@berkeley.edu.
Use the UC Library Search to see if a known, single journal article (or book, book chapter, etc.) is available online; simply copy/paste the title and search.
If it is not available online, click the link to "Request through Interlibrary Loan." This will start the Interlibrary Loan process; they will find the article and email you a link to a PDF.
Grey Literature generally refers to publications not produced by commercial publishers, including reports (pre-prints, preliminary progress and advanced reports, technical reports, market research reports, etc.), theses, conference proceedings, and other documents. They are often produced by government entities, research institutions, or NGOs/IGOs.
The Library's Public Health Subject Guides lists guides by topic. Each guide consists of annotated lists of organizations, agencies, databases, statistical/data sources, and publications. Topics include:
and many more.
Google and other search engines can be useful for finding grey literature. Improve your search using:
In academic publishing, a preprint is a version of a scholarly or scientific paper that precedes formal peer review and publication in a scholarly or scientific journal. The preprint may be available, often as a non-typeset version available free, before and/or after a paper is published in a journal. Preprints are not without controversy.
"Systematic reviews seek to collate all evidence that fits pre-specified eligibility criteria in order to address a specific research question. They aim to minimize bias by using explicit, systematic methods."
(from Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions 2011. Available from www.cochrane-handbook.org).
The Cochrane Library (Citations of Cochrane's systematic reviews are in PubMed).
Public Health + (Methodologically sound studies from top journals in a browsable, searchable database).
Health Systems Evidence (Syntheses of research evidence about governance, financial and delivery arrangements within health system).
Health Evidence (Methodologically-sound reviews of health promotion and public health interventions).
Database of Promoting Health Effectiveness Reviews (Systematic and non-systematic reviews of effectiveness in health promotion and public health worldwide).
The Campbell Collaboration Library (Systematic reviews in psychology, social welfare, disability, nutrition, etc.).
In PubMed, use Clinical Queries to search for systematic reviews.
Here is a short list of sources of writing help available to UC Berkeley students, staff, and faculty: