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 sources. Pamphlets, booklets, special reports, original research and book excerpts are included. The database offers sources dating back to 1990.

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

Under this search, you can search by Keyword, Subject, Publications or Indexes. To conduct a Keyword Basic Search, type a word or topic in the Find: Box. For example, you can type in Diabetes.

If you want, at this point you can click on the Search button. You will receive full text and abstracts covered by the database.

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 with your search results. You can also expand your search by clicking on options such as ‘Also search for related words.’

The Basic Search for Subjects allows you to browse or search for a particular subject. These subjects are already created by the database so not all words used will match a specific subject title.

The Basic Search for Publications allows you to browse or search for specific sources, such as journals. Publications are also alphabetically listed.

The Index Basic Search allows you to search the index included in the database. For example, if you type in the word French and select language from the drop down box, the results will offer documents in French.

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 option.

Visual Search

The Visual Search is a visual way to find what you are looking for.

For example, type the word "Acupuncture" into the search field. The results show up as a diagram of multiple subheadings; for example, Acupuncture Points, Alternative Medicine, Medical Care, etc. If you select one (for example, Acupuncture Points) narrower topics for that subheading are given. The choices get more and more specific until an article results. The text information for this article is offered on the right-hand side.

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