Literature search, before method

MEDLINE and PubMed, both produced by the National Library of Medicine (NLM), are the largest and best known bibliographic databases of biomedical journal literature. PubMed s iu-process records provide basic citation information and abstracts before the citations are indexed with NLM s Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) Terms and added to MEDLINE. To optimize the efficiency of a clinical search, PubMed offers specialized searches usiug method-ologic filters. These filters, based on work by Haynes and colleagues, are validated search strategies to identify clinically relevant studies... 

Before leaving the topic of abstracts and indexes, a few words should be said about the best method of using them, and giving some hints on how to conduct a literature search. 

Search the Internet for information on chemical waste streams (both the US EPA and the EU have excellent websites on this subject), and suggest an eco-friendly active catalyst and a support for each of the three options. Suggest two methods for characterizing your catalysts before and after the reaction, and one method for characterizing at least one of the catalysts during the reaction (see the literature on operando spectroscopy [29]). 

Before we start the development of a new method, we should ask ourselves whether we really need to develop a new method. In many cases established methods already exist. In some cases, the use of a particular method may even be prescribed by regulatory bodies. Examples are the analysis of pharmaceutical formulations, which can be found in the V.S. Pharmacopeia or methods for environmental pollutants established by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). If we suspect that an established method exists, it pays to search in the relevant literature. For example, EPA Method 8310 describes the analysis of polynuclear aromatics in groundwater and wastewater. If we are interested in... 

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