Searching PubMed in five easy steps

You can find and read the studies that are referenced on this Web site by searching PubMed, a resource of the National Library of Medicine. The abstracts (short summaries) of the studies are available for free, but in most cases you will have to pay to obtain the full report.

Here’s how to access an abstract:

1. Open up your browser’s window while connected to the Internet. Type www.pubmed.gov and hit return.

2. This brings you to the PubMed welcome page. You will see the following:

   

3. In the space after “For,” type the PMID (short for “PubMed ID”) number that appears with the reference you want. For example, for the citation that reads "Duffield-Lillico AJ, Reid ME, Turnbull BW, et al. Baseline Characteristics of and the Effect of Selenium Supplementation on Cancer Incidence in a Randomized Clinical Trial: A Summary Report of the Nutritional Prevention of Cancer Trial. Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention 2002;630-639. PMID: 12101110," you would enter 12101110.

4. Click on “Go” or press the enter key. PubMed will retrieve the abstract, which will appear on your screen.

5. If the journal provides a link for purchase — or if a link is provided for a free copy of the article — click on the icon and follow the instructions.