Ovid Tutorial 2.0
 University of South Alabama Biomedical Libraries

Explode

Explode is a function that allows you to expand your search strategy to include additional, more specific terms.

If you are also interested in other types of Interferons, you can explode the broad term Interferons to pick up the more specific types, namely Interferon Type I and Interferon Type II which are indexed below it in the Tree Display.

When you explode a term the system will automatically retrieve all citations indexed to that term as well as all the citations indexed to the terms indented under it.

Tree for: Interferons
Select Subject Heading Explode Focus Scope Note
Proteins (18164) Scope Note
Interferons (1215) Scope Note
Interferon Type I (242) Scope Note
Interferon Type II (6154) Scope Note

Sample retrieval with and without Explode ("exp") :
# Search History Results Display
1 Interferons/ 1215 Display
2 exp Interferons/ 12293 Display

Note: Exploding Interferons retrieves 12293 citations. This includes citations indexed to more specific terms under Interferon Type I and Interferon Type II.

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Web address:     http://southmed.usouthal.edu/library/ref/ovid/explode.htm
Last Update:     2/14/02
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