PHED 203 – Library Databases

Spring 2011Maj. Garner

What is Peer Review? Peer review is a process scholars go through

that adds an extra level of scrutiny to their research before publication.

Not all journals require a peer review process, but the most highly regarded journals always subscribe to this process.

Let’s watch a short video on peer-review to help you better understand this process:

http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/tutorials/pr/share/

Keywords v Subjects Databases are organized and categorized by

people. In order to maintain some consistency, a

controlled vocabulary is put in place to describe each article.

What you understand a word or phrase to be may be completely different than what someone else understands that same word or phrase.

Health to you might mean physical fitness, whereas to me it might mean not being sick

Keywords are open vocabulary Subjects are controlled Example

Example of an Ebsco Database Interface

The interface will stay the same, but the dataset your are searching will change.

Database Search Strategies Start broad and narrow down

Starting with too specific search terms often yields you few or no results. Since you are not expert searchers yet, it is best to start broad to see what is out there and narrow down.

Identify several search terms first – use synonyms and related terms Spend a few minutes doing a mini brainstorm before you

even begin searching. This helps you organize your thoughts before you dive into a database.

Use database features to your advantage Always use the advanced search option if a database

provides one. This can help you eliminate or include key requirements such as peer-reviewed, year of publication,

First go to Subject Guides

Select the HESS Subject Guide

Notice what is available on the Subject Guide

Physical Education Index and SPORTDiscus are good databases to start with for this assignments

Enter in keywords in the search boxes

Review the options under “Limit your results”

When you click on an article title, you get a detailed record with more specific information about the article

A menu of tools are available for each record

Full Text Search

Full Text Search Results

Full-text access through a different database

If no other database has the article you are looking for, you can request it through Interlibrary Loan

Now let’s take a look at Physical Education Index.

Notice that none of the results are in full-text. No, we didn’t get unlucky, this is intended.

Click on the title of an article to find out a little more information and determine if the article is suitable.

APA Citations There are a lot of tools out there to help you

create a citation: Citation Generators like Bibme.org Online Citation Guides like

Purdue University’s OWL APA Guide The official APA Style Manual

Several copies available at the library The Academic Support Center (formerly the

Writing and Learning Center) Your Professors AND your Librarians!

Have Questions? Don’t be afraid to ask for help! Librarians get PAID to help YOU, make us earn

our salaries.

My contact information:

Dana DeFebbodefebbod1@citadel.edu

953-7699Office always open