SHE1002 Growth Development and Ageing: Databases & Journals

Databases versus journals

What are articles?

  • An author writes an article on a particular topic and sends it to a journal publisher.
  • Articles on similar topics are published together in journals, which can also be known as periodicals.
  • The journal publisher assesses the article. It may be reviewed by other writers in the field. This would then be a peer reviewed article.

How do we access the articles?

  • The library subscribes to print copies of journals and puts them onto the library shelves.
  • The library subscribes to online databases which are collections of journals packaged together by topic. These databases can be searched using keywords, author names and subjects.
  • A search in the ‘Library Search’ accesses many journal articles in the databases.

What is a scholarly or academic journals & how to check for peer-reviewed articles

Scholarly or Academic Journal and Databases from Victoria University Library on Vimeo.

When an article is published in a peer-reviewed or refereed journal, it indicates that that article has been through a formal review process. It has been read by experts in the subject field before being accepted for publication. This ensures the information in the article is well-researched, and contributes to the knowledge of the subject area.

How to find peer-reviewed journal articles using Library Search

Database access to peer-reviewed journal articles

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.

Newspapers and TV News databases

Current (and sometimes local) information but not peer reviewed

  • ANZ NEWSSTREAM - ANZ Newsstream contains the articles from Australian and New Zealand national and regional newspapers. The coverage begins in 1996.
  • Factiva - provides business and research information from Australia and overseas. 
  • Kanopy - access to a broad range of educational streamed video titles.
  • The Conversation - The Conversation contains news and views from academic and research communities

Transcript for how to find a journal article using SPORTDiscus database

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.