What is Alt Health Watch?

• Alt Health Watch is a database focusing on articles from the perspectives of alternative, holistic, complementary and integrated approaches to medical treatment and general health.

What information is available on Alt Health Watch?

• The database offers full-text articles from more than 180 journals and reports. The database also includes hundreds of pamphlets, booklets, special reports, original research and book excerpts. The database offers sources dating back to 1990, although some sources do not go back that far.

How can I find information and articles using Alt Health Watch?

• There are three main ways of searching the Alt Health Watch database: Basic, Advanced and Visual.

Basic Search

The Basic Search is a Keyword search. To conduct a Keyword Basic Search, type a word or topic in the empty box. For example, you can type in Diabetes.

If you want, at this point you can click on the Search button. You will receive abstracts covered by the database. You will also receive full-text articles, if there are any.

Alternatively, before searching, you can refine your search by setting limits. For example, if you click in the box labeled "Full Text", only full text articles and documents will be in your search results. In addition, you can expand your search by clicking on options such as "Apply related words," which causes the database to also search for words related to the words you used.

You can browse or search for a particular subject term to use in your search. These subject terms are already created by the database. Use the subject search to help you identify the subject terms the database uses for more effective searching. To search for subjects, click on "Subjects" at the top left of the screen, next to "New Search."

You can browse or search for specific publications, such as journals. Publications are alphabetically listed. To search for publications, click on "Publications" at the top left of the screen, next to "Subjects."

You can search for images by clicking on "Images" at the top of the screen, next to "Publications." You can limit the type of image you want in the "Limit your results" section to charts, color photographs, graphs, etc.

Advanced Search

The Advanced Search is very similar to the Basic Search. The main difference is that the Keyword Advanced Search offers different options to search under. There are three boxes in which to enter terms. To the right of these boxes are drop-down menus. You can select: TX All Text, AU Author, TI Title, SU Subject Terms, GE Geographic Terms, AB Abstract or Author-Supplied Abstract, IS ISSN, IB ISBN, SO Journal Name, and AN Accession Number.

For example, if you wanted to search for Diabetes treatments in a journal about Chinese Medicine with the term "Acupuncture" in the text, you could search for Diabetes in the Title field, Chinese Medicine in the Journal Name field, and Acupuncture in the All Text field. If you only want full text articles, you can check the full text box.

During your Advanced Search, if you wish to view your search and result history, click on the Search History/Alerts option.

Visual Search

You may have the Visual Search option available to you through your library. The Visual Search is a visual way to find what you are looking for.

For example, click on the "Visual Search" link under the search boxes and type the word "Acupuncture" into the search field. The results show up as a column of multiple subheadings; for example, Alternative Medicine, Therapeutics, and Medicine, Chinese. If you select one (for example, Medicine, Chinese), narrower topics for that subheading are given. The choices get more and more specific until you arrive at an article. The information for this article is listed in green on the right-hand side. Articles are also listed in the green boxes below each column of sub-categories.

This page was created by Kyla Kothman in Spring 2007.
This page was revised by Iantha Haight in Spring 2009.
INF382S: Library Instruction and Information Literacy, taught by Dr. Loriene Roy
School of Information, The University of Texas at Austin.