Sports Studies: Journal Articles
Important Update
The new PubMed is here.
PubMed has officially implemented its new interface. This is a change that has been in the works for a while; an FAQ about the transition is available and may answer many questions you have. The National Library of Medicine has also created some helpful quick tours and other documentation to help you learn to navigate the new interface. Don't hesitate to reach out to me with questions.
Medical and Health Studies Databases
- PubmedThe main source for medical literature.
- MedlineAnother interface for searching the Pubmed database.
- CINAHL PlusThis is the major nursing database. Often the resources available here can be more accessible than those in Pubmed.
- Health Source -- Consumer EditionDatabase with health information in popular journals.
- Health Source -- Nursing/Academic EditionMore scholarly information than in the consumer edition, but more accessible than Pubmed.
Education Databases
These databases are devoted to the scholarly and popular literature in the field of education. These resources are useful if your research is related to physcial education, youth sports or children in general.
- ERICThe most comprehensive source for scholarly literature devoted to all aspects of education.
- Education Research CompleteGood general database in the field of education.
- Professional Development CollectionDatabase that is focused on the professional literature targeted towards teachers in the field.
General Databases
These databases provide good information for many of the subject areas that fall under the umbrella of sports studies.
- Business Source Complete This link opens in a new windowIndexes and abstracts a number of scholarly business journals, the majority of which are available in full-text. Also includes company, industry, and country reports covering both domestic and international. Covers the subject areas of management, economics, finance, accounting, international business, and marketing.
- Academic Search CompleteA good general database that has broad (but not deep) coverage of scholarly and popular literature in a wide variety of subject areas.
- SPORT Discus with Full TextThis is a good index of both scholarly and popular literature in the field of sports studies and exercise science.
- SocINDEX with Full TextThe best database in the field of Sociology
- Social Science Citation IndexThe authoritative source for citation/bibliometric analysis information.
- PsychINFOThe main source for scholarly information in the field of Psychology.
- America: History and LifeDatabase of national and regional American and Canadian history journals .
- Historical AbstractsWorld history (excluding the United States and Canada-see America: History and Life), from 1450 C.E. to the present. This index also includes major European-language journals.
Why would I want an article?
Primary article:
A primary article will contain original research on a topic.
Review article:
This type of article, sometimes called a secondary article, will summarize the research done on a certain topic.
What is peer review?
Peer review is the process by which articles are selected for publication in academic/scholarly journals. The articles are evaluated for accuracy, proper research methodology, and the correct interpretation and use of data by other experts in the field. No other publications undergo this level of vetting.
How do I know if something is peer reviewed?
If you are looking for peer reviewed articles, there are a number of ways to locate them. One way is to limit your database searches to only articles in peer reviewed publications. Many databases allow you to do this. For example, most EBSCO Host databases have a box labeled "Scholarly" or "Peer Reviewed" in the limiters section under the main search boxes.
Another way is to use Ulrich's Periodicals Directory. This is an authoritative source for information about periodicals. Simply search the title of the journal using a title (keyword) search in the search box ont he top right of the page. If the journal is labeled as refereed: yes (or has a little icon of a referee's jersey in the results list) then it is a peer reviewed publication.
Search Tip: Use the Find It! Button
When you search a database for a "Full Text" item, you are only searching through that particular database for the document in full-text, and not our entire collection. An item may exist as a "Full Text" selection within a different database.
If you don't find an item as full-text in the database you're searching, use the "Find It" button to cross-search other databses for that same item. You may discover that we have electronic access to that material after all.
