LibGuides: Kinesiology: Databases and How to Choose Them

Databases and How to Choose Them

Databases of Interest
Choosing Where to Search

Included on this page are a list of databases that may be relevant for your Kinesiology research. It is not a complete list, but rather a good starting place for your searching. Please consult the 'Choosing Where to Search' tab on this page for assistance in deciding which of these databases is most relevant to your topic.

PubMed This link opens in a new window
What's included?
*Citations for biomedical literature from MEDLINE and other resources

Web of Science This link opens in a new window
What's included?
*Citations to academic related publications
*To access Web of Science from off-campus, you must first register (create an account) while on campus.
To do this, follow these steps:
1. Access Web of Science by going to the Augustana College library website. (For example, on the “A-Z Resources” page.)
2. Click Sign In along the top navigation.
3. Click Register to create a new account. (You will be asked to enter your email address to verify that you don’t already have an account.)
4. Fill in the User Registration page.
5. After the username and password you have entered is verified, it will become active.
Keeping your access active:
• In order to keep their access active, users are required to sign in to their account from an IP authenticated (on-campus) computer or device every six months to verify that they are an authorized user.

ScienceDirect College Edition This link opens in a new window
What's included?
*Full coverage of several multiple discipline journals

Consumer Health Complete This link opens in a new window
What's included?
*Citations and full-text to resources related to consumer-oriented health topics

Health Source: Consumer Edition This link opens in a new window
What's included?
*Citations and full-text to resources related to health

Health Source: Nursing/Academic Edition This link opens in a new window
What's included?
*Citations and full-text to resources related to health

Each database offered by the library will contain different information that may potentially be relevant to your research. You will need to decide which databases are worth your time and effort to search, and which you should save for last or exclude from your research process. Below are listed some of the commonly used databases for Kinesiology and a brief guide of when you may want to consult them.

Database/ Search Engine	Strengths
OneSearch	Good starting place, but shouldn't be the only place you search. Pulls results from almost all of the 250+ databases the library currently subscribes to Presents a lot of results, which can be a positive and negative Is only likely to pull a couple of results from each database in the first few pages of results, meaning you may miss important information that is buried deeper
PubMed	Contains more than 33 million citations of strictly biomedical literature Good place to find keywords: has the MESH terms database to search for standardized terms for your topic Good source of data: contains clinical trials and randomized control trials, in addition to research and review articles
Web of Science	One of the most comprehensive scientific research platforms available w/ lots of different subject areas Really robust metrics on all articles/citations contained within Great way to make connections between research in your subject area: can follow links to most cited articles on topic, for example. Displays journal information to show quality of journals being searched
ScienceDirect	Also a robust science platform that contains lots of multidisciplinary research Has good metrics, but perhaps not as robust as Web of Science Contains content not found in Web of Science, since this is from a different publishing company.