Library Guides
- Library
- Library Guides
- SCL1003 Exercise and Sport Psychology
- Databases & Journals
Relevant journals and databases available for this unit.
This video will explain what a scholarly or academic journal is and what is a journal database. In addition, the video explains the peer review process and how you check the article is peer-reviewed.
Rather than searching ALL the library resources you can choose to search in ONE of the databases. Remember to limit your search results to peer-reviewed (or refereed) articles.
List of relevant journals:
A video developed by the Centre for Teaching and Learning at Southern Cross University on how to read a journal article.
This video will explain what a scholarly or academic journal is and what is a journal database.
In simple terms, a scholarly journal also referred to as an academic journal or peer-reviewed or refereed journal, is a collection of articles that are written by academics or experts in their field.
Scholarly journals differ from popular magazines (Image) or trade publications (Image) or newspapers (Image) as the articles published in these are meant for the general audience, usually written by journalists and most importantly, the articles in these publications do not go through the peer review process.
On the other hand, scholarly journals are subject specific, written by experts/researchers in the field and often report on original research or experimentation. Use specialized language and have an extensive reference list at the end. Finally, these articles go through the peer review process to ensure the quality and relevance of the article!
Now you must be thinking what Peer review is and why is it such a big deal! Let me explain. Peer review is an editorial process where by a researcher writes an article and submits it to the journal’s editor, who then sends the article to one or more reviewers. These reviewers are experts or researchers in the same field who are considered as authors peers! These impartial reviewers precisely evaluate the quality and credibility of the article, ensuring the information in the article is accurate, reliable and well researched. The peer reviewers may reject the article or send it back to the authors for revision before it gets published.
The library subscribes to print copies of journals and puts them onto the library shelves. However, the Library’s preferable method for purchasing and subscribing to journals is through online journal databases.
So, to get an idea of what a database is: think of Apple iTunes, which is a database of songs you buy! Likewise, a journal database is a collection of online or e-journals, packaged together by topic or discipline. Some are subject-specific databases and some are multi-disciplinary databases and contains full text of the article however, some may/only contain abstract or summary of the article.
Journal databases can be searched collectively through Library Search. You can also search them individually, browse the databases alphabetically or browse by subject.
Many databases offer ways of limiting your search results to peer-reviewed articles. Look for options/refinements or limiters such as Peer reviewed, Academic journals or Scholarly journals
Alternatively, the Ulrichsweb database can be used to check if the journal is peer-reviewed or not!
For further information refer to the relevant guide or contact us online.
In this presentation you will see how to find a journal article on library’s search.You can search for journal articles on the library’s homepage by typing in the article title, the author or simply by entering keywords.Type in your key words. Choose ‘journal articles’ button and search.You can limit your search to peer-reviewed articles, full text, as well as choose articles published in the last few years and add more keywords.To access journal article, click on “PDF full text” link or “check for full text” link. This checks all the library databases. If the article is not available, there is an option to request the article. For further information, please contact us through ‘Ask a Librarian’ service or talk to a rover or library staff member if on campus.
This video will demonstrate how to conduct a basic search for journal articles in the database SportDiscus.
Before you begin your search, it is important to determine your keywords. In this example, I am researching on the impact of physical activity and or sedentary behaviour among elderly. I have identified keywords that describe my topic as well as synonyms and related terms
To locate the database, go to the Library’s homepage and click on Databases A-Z listing. Select ‘S’ under ‘Browse alphabetically’.
Scroll down the list and click on Sportdiscus with full text and then connect to the database.
From the Advanced Search screen Type your keyword terms into the individual boxes
Once you have typed in all your keywords, click ‘Search’
There are 354 results for the keywords ‘physical activity or exercise AND sedentary or inactive AND elderly”
To narrow down your search results further use the Refine Results toolbar on the left hand side of the page.
I have limited my search results to articles published in the last 5 years and further refined it to articles published in Peer reviewed journals. Click on “show More” to see the Peer Reviewed checkbox
Notice the search results have been reduced to 114 articles.
Scroll through the list of results.
The title, abstract and subjects should provide enough information to help you determine whether the article is relevant to your search.
If you do not get relevant results, you may need to go back and revise your search terms by changing, adding and/or removing terms
Click on the article title for more detailed information about the article. Here you will find all the information required for referencing
To see the full-text click on ‘PDF Full Text’
When the ‘PDF full text’ link does not appear, click on the check for full-text link. In most cases, you will be directed to the full-text version of the article
Alternatively, you may be directed to the Electronic Resources access page. Follow the links to access the article or if not available Request this article.
You can save articles from a search session into a folder. This is done by clicking on the folder next to the title. All the articles you have selected will go into the temporary folder
To view saved articles in your folder select ‘Folder View’. You can select individual articles by clicking on the checkboxes or ‘select’ all of the articles in your folder. Use the tools on the right-hand side of the screen to either print, email or save the selected articles.
For further assistance contact the library using Ask a Librarian service or talk to a library staff member if on campus.