TOXLINE® Special is an extensive, bibliographic database for toxicology, providing information covering the biochemical, pharmacological, physiological, and toxicological effects of drugs and other chemicals. In this tutorial, we will look at how to search TOXLINE Special using several search tips, including those for simple term searches, phrase searches, connector searches, group searches, term starts-with searches, and combination searches.
Simple Term Search
To begin a TOXLINE® Special Advanced search, navigate to the Dashboard, select the Advanced tab, and then click the TOXLINE® Special Advanced button. To search for a specific term, simply type it into the Search Term box. For example, to search for documents containing the term "toluene," enter toluene and click Submit.
To search for multiple terms, type them into the Search Term box separated by spaces. By default, the connector used between terms is "and." For example, to search for documents containing both "toluene" and "methanol," enter toluene methanol and click Submit.
Phrase Search
To search for a specific phrase, enter the phrase within quotation marks. For example, to search for documents containing "polychlorinated biphenyl congeners", type "polychlorinated biphenyl congeners" and click Submit.
Connector Search
To search for documents containing any of the entered terms, use the "or" connector. For example, to find documents containing either "mercury" or "lead", enter mercury or lead and click Submit. The available connectors are: AND, OR, and NOT.
Group Search
You can group multiple search terms or clauses using parentheses. For example, to search for documents containing either "phenol" or "benzene" and also containing "formaldehyde", type (phenol or benzene) and formaldehyde into the Search Term box and click Submit.
Term Starts-With Search
To search for terms that start with specific characters, enter the characters followed by an asterisk (*). For example, to search for terms starting with "perfluoro", enter perfluoro* and click Submit. Avoid using the asterisk at the start or middle of words (e.g., *perfluoro or perfluor*o) as this will cause the search to fail.
Combination Search
You can combine different search types in a single query. For example, to search for documents containing terms that start with "perfluoro" or contain "benzene" and also contain "acid", type (perfluoro* or benzene) and acid into the Search Term box and click Submit.