QUOSA Information Manager Tutorial

QUOSA Information Manager (QUOSA) enables researchers in the life sciences to retrieve full articles, organize them, and perform powerful full-text searching. It also has many other features that automate and accelerate literature searches and management.

After you've downloaded, installed, and registered QUOSA, follow these instructions to get started:

Note: The following information is for PC users. Please see the Getting Started Guide for Mac if you are a Mac user.

Starting QUOSA Information Manager

A QUOSA icon should be on your desktop. Double-click on it to start.

Quick tour of the QUOSA user interface:

Retrieving Articles in PubMed Using QUOSA Information Manager

Search PubMed as you normally would. You may apply limits and use the Clipboard. For PubMed searching tips, see PubMed at the UW

1. Either check the checkbox of each article of interest in the PubMed list of references or enter the number of articles you want to retrieve in the text box next to the Retrieve button . For example, enter "35" if you'd like to retrieve 35 articles.
2. Select the format you want (abstract, PDF, or HTML). For example, select "PDF."
3. Click Retrieve to retrieve the articles.

The Results pane opens (if it was closed) and displays the list of retrieved articles. If you chose PDFs, QUOSA will retrieve them; if PDFs were not available, QUOSA will retrieve HTML versions. Abstracts will be retrieved if neither full-text format is available. Icons in the Type column indicate whether the article is a PDF, HTML version, or abstract.

During the retrieval, QUOSA creates an entry for the search under My Searches in My Article Organizer on the left.

Reviewing Articles

When QUOSA retrieves articles and abstracts, it automatically highlights passages in them that contain all or a part of the search expression. Upon opening an article or abstract in the Results pane, the passages are immediately displayed in the Document Summary tab on the lower left of the Organizer Pane. Each passage is separated by a line. When you click on a passage, QUOSA automatically scrolls to the place where the excerpt is located in the opened article or abstract. This feature gives you an easy way to quickly review articles.

1. If you already have the Results pane open with search results, you are all set. (If not, bring the search list you want to review into the Results pane by clicking on it under My Searches.)
2. Double-click on first result you want to review. It will display in the Browser pane.
3. Click the Document Summary tab (at the bottom of the Organizer pane).
4. Click on a passage. QUOSA will scroll to the place in the opened article where the passage occurs. Passages with all elements of the search term (for example, if both "antioxidants" and "chocolate" occur close together in the passage) will be shown in one color (default is yellow), while those with only part of the expression ("chocolate" or "antioxidants," but not both) will be shown in another color (default is gray).
5. Click on the next passage in the Document Summary and repeat this process until you are done.

Note: You can use the scroll bars (up/down and left/right) to see more of the highlighted excerpts in the Document Summary.

Searching in Results

You can search on the full text of the articles on your computer using QUOSA's Search in Results feature. This feature enables you to mine more deeply in the articles, as well as re-find information.

1. Click the Search in Results button on the Results pane toolbar. The Search in Results dialog appears.

2. In the "Scope" drop-down menu, specify the scope of the search, as follows:
• Click Current Set to specify the set of articles currently in the Results pane.
• Click All Folders to specify all folders in My Article Organizer.
• Click All Searches to specify all searches in My Article Organizer.
• Click All Folders & Searches to specify all folders and searches in My Article Organizer.
3. Enter the search expression in the text box in the middle of the dialog. The box will be labeled with the name of the search technique you specify in the "Full- Text Search using" drop-down menu. For example, if you select Boolean Query, the text box will be labeled "Boolean Query."
4. Click Search.

Saving Results in QUOSA Folders

QUOSA folders are not the same same as regular Windows folder. They are specifically designed to support features such as exporting references to citation managers; they're also indexed for faster searching.

To save selected articles into a QUOSA folder, do the following:

1. Flag the desired articles (by clicking in the column with the flag icon).
2. Click the Select Flagged button on the Results pane toolbar.
3. Click the Save button .
4. From the Save Document dialog, choose an existing folder or create a new folder, and click OK.

If you want to save a new folder, do the following:

1. Click New Folder. The New Folder dialog appears.
2. Enter a name for the folder in the "Folder Name" text box.
3. Click OK.
4. Select that folder from the Save Document dialog.
5. Click OK. A progress bar briefly appears indicating QUOSA is saving to the folder.

To save all the articles in the Results pane:

1. Click Ctrl-A before clicking on the Save button.
2. From the Save Document dialog, choose an existing folder or create a new folder, and click OK. The saved results will appear in My Folders in My Article Organizer on the left.

Setting Automatic Search Alerts

You can configure QUOSA to automatically update your search results, as well as to let you know when the update happens by sending you an alert. To configure an automated search alert, do the following:

1. Right-click on the search list under My Searches that you want to configure an automated search alert for. The search list displays in the Results pane and a drop-down appears. Click Configure Alert. The Configure Search Alert dialog appears with the name of the search in the "Search" field at the top. The "Retrieve" field shows the number of results you retrieved in the original search.

   Note: If the desired search list is already displayed in the Results pane, you can click the Set Alert button on the Results pane toolbar.



2. Select the article type from the drop-down list (PDF, HTML, or abstract).
3. Set the start time in the "Start at:" text box by clicking the up or down arrow (goes up or down in one-hour increments) or enter the time.
4. Set the frequency in the "Every __ day(s)" text box.
5. Check the following checkboxes as needed:
   • Send E-Mail Notification (to let you know when an update has occurred)
   • Keep only New articles (QUOSA will retain only new results and discard previous results), or
   • Keep only Unread articles (QUOSA will retain only unread articles and discard any that have been opened). This is the default.
6. Click OK.

• To designate a folder where the new results can be copied to, click Destination Folder under the Advanced options in the Configure Search Alert window. When the Configure Destination Folder dialog appears click the Select/Create button, and either select an existing folder or create a new one. You can also select a Virtual Library folder.

• If you elect to create a new folder, click New Folder, enter a name in the Folder Name text box in the New Folder dialog, click OK, then select the folder in the Save Document dialog, and click OK again.
• If you elect to select an existing folder, select the folder, click OK, and click OK again.
• To disable copying results to the folder, check the Do not Copy checkbox in the Configure Destination Folder dialog.

Exporting References to a Citation Manager

You can easily export citations to EndNote, Reference Manager, ProCite, or RefWorks. Before you start, however, you first need to select your citation manager in QUOSA. Do the following:

1. Go to Settings on the Main Menu bar.
2. Click Citation Manager.
3. Click Select Citation Manager.
4. Select your citation manager.

Now, to export selected citations, do the following:

1. Flag the articles of interest in the Results pane.
2. Click the To Citations button on the Results pane toolbar. Your citation manager will launch, and you will be prompted for the library or database where you want to save the citations.
3. Select one and click Open. QUOSA will export the citations, which you will see listed in your library/database. When you click on a citation, you will also see a link back to the full article.

Note: To export all the articles to your citation manager, click Ctrl-A before clicking To Citations on the Results pane toolbar.

Importing EndNote libraries into QUOSA

The first step in the overall process starts in EndNote, where the citations from a library are exported to a file.

To export a library from EndNote to a file, do the following:

1. Click File on the EndNote menu.
2. Click Open and then click Open Library.
3. Click on the Library name you want to export.
4. Click File.
5. Click Export. The Save As dialog appears. Be sure to select Show All from the drop-down menu as the Output Style

6. Enter a name for the file to be exported.
7. Click Save.

The next main step is performed in QUOSA, where you import the EndNote file. Once you import it, QUOSA then downloads the articles for the citations and adds links to the citations.

To import the EndNote file into QUOSA, do the following:

1. Under the Tools option on the Main Menu bar click on Import Citation Library/Database.
2. Select the EndNote file you exported earlier (that is, in steps #1-7 above).
3. Click Next. QUOSA will display the Input File Results dialog. This file will show the number of citations found in the file. If the number is correct, click Import. If you think the number is incorrect, click Cancel, adjust your EndNote export setting, and export the library again.

QUOSA will start the search (going out to find the articles for your citations) and download process. The period of time needed to complete this operation will depend on the size of your library and the speed of your Internet connection. When the search and download process is completed, the last main step is performed in QUOSA as well. With this step, you will send the citations back to EndNote (with links added to the citations automatically).

To export the citations from QUOSA back to EndNote, do the following:

Click Yes in the Export to Citation Manager dialog (which appears at the end of the import process, step #3 above).

Select the EndNote library where you want to export the citations to.

Click Open.

Notes:

• QUOSA automatically saves the downloaded articles into the My Citations folder in the Organizer pane. You can save them to another folder if you choose.
• If you will want to put the references into a new EndNote library, you must create that library as the first step in this entire process since EndNote does not support "in-process" library creation.
• For directions on importing a RefWorks citation library into QUOSA, see this page from QUOSA.