- Use books and reference books to learn about research assessments and methods and medical conditions or injuries in EXPH. See the books tab.
- Create a solid PICO question, but be prepared to adjust your question based on what research is available. PICO Worksheet
- Review the Evidence Based Practice Guide. It has information about finding different types of EBP studies.
- Use MESH Terms for your concepts when possible. Watch the video tutorial below.
- Check out our other Help Guides on Literature Searching and Writing With Sources
- Cite your sources and format your paper.
Use these search techniques to locate Primary Research inside databases.
- Add the following row of keywords to your advanced search: (methods AND results) OR methodology OR “case study” OR “this study” OR “a study”. You will want to copy and paste this entire row of keywords into its own search box (see first example below).
Important! From your list of results, you will still need to examine each article to see if it is primary research.
- Filter by Document Type: on the Advanced Search page choose Case Study under Document Type or Publication Type. In ProQuest Nursing & Allied Health Database, it looks like this:
All of these results are generally primary research articles, but not all primary research is a case study, so you will likely be missing some primary research articles on your topic by searching this way.
In Ebsco Databases like CINAHL Complete you will see Research under Publication Type in the Advanced Search:
Looking for some suggestions for Primo or databases? Try one of these keywords or phrases.
Subject Terms:
- Sports — Research — Methodology
- Exercise Physiology — Testing
- Strength training — Physiological aspects
- Clinical exercise physiology
Print Books
Ebooks
See the Health Science Tools(PDF) Guide for any easy reference Chart on the features of different Databases
Healthcare Specific
CINAHL Complete (EBSCOhost) indexing for journals, and provides additional nursing and allied health research material including health care books, select conference proceedings, evidence-based care sheet and quick lesson disease overviews.
Consider adding the Special Interest: Sports medicine
ClinicalKey (Elsevier) All of Elsevier’s medical and surgical content in one resource, including books, journals, videos, and images.
The Cochrane Library (EBSCOhost) Contains three databases. The Database of Systematic Reviews contains full text articles, as well as protocols focusing on the effects of healthcare. Data is evidence-based medicine and is often combined statistically (with meta-analysis) to increase the power of the findings of numerous studies. The Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials is a bibliography of controlled trials to create an unbiased source of data for systematic reviews. Cochrane Clinical Answers contains a clinical question, a short answer, and an opportunity to ‘drill down’ to the evidence from relevant Cochrane reviews.
Watch a tutorial about this database
DynaMed Plus (EBSCOhost) clinical reference tool which provides fast, easy access to the latest evidence-based information. DynaMed includes clinically-organized summaries for thousands of topics. Features include: Use of a strict, evidence-based editorial process, One-click access to full-text articles, Practice-changing updates, targeted Medline searching and more.
Watch a video tutorial about this database
MEDLINE Complete (EBSCOhost) Pubmed companion of biomedical and health journals. Topics: biomedicine, pre-clinical sciences, behavioral sciences, bioengineering, health policy development, nursing, and life sciences. Content Includes: full-text journals, and MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) for current biomedical journals.
Watch a tutorial about this database
Proquest Health & Medicine Databases Search all of Proquest’s health and medicine databases at the same time.
PubMed (National Library of Medicine) FREE access to over 11 million MEDLINE® citations. Mid-1960’s-present.
Watch a tutorial about this database
Watch a tutorial about using MeSH database.
Health Source: Nursing/Academic Edition (EBSCOhost-provided by Badgerlink) – Provides scholarly full-text journals focusing on many medical disciplines.
Nursing & Allied Health Database (ProQuest) Provides reliable healthcare information covering nursing, allied health, alternative and complementary medicine, and much more.
Nursing & Health Professions Premier (Ovid) Provides full-text access to nursing and allied health journals published by leading publishers.
Exercise Specific
Rehabilitation Reference Center (RRC) (EBSCOhost) Evidence-based clinical reference tool for use by rehabilitation clinicians at the point-of-care. Content: Clinical Reviews, research instruments, more than 9,800 exercise images, and guidelines from the National Guidelines Clearinghouse.
SPORTDiscus (Please note: This database is limited to 4 users at a time) Covers sports, physical fitness, exercise, sports medicine, sports science, physical education, kinesiology, coaching, training, sport administration, officiating, sport law & legislation, college & university sport, disabled persons, facility design & management, intramural & school sport, doping, health, health education, biomechanics, movement science, injury prevention rehabilitation, physical therapy, nutrition, exercise physiology, sport & exercise psychology, recreation, and leisure studies.
Finding Journal Articles By Journal Title in Primo
- Open Primo Journal Title Search
- Search for the Journal’s Title
- Click on the Journaltitle in the search results.
- Search inside the journal for keywords on the journal page using the search box OR browse by year, volume, and issue in a database.
Journal Titles
- Medicine and Science in Sport and Exercise
- Exercise and Sport Science Reviews
- Physician and Sports Medicine
- Sports Medicine
- Strength and Conditioning Journal
- Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research
- Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism
- Journal of Applied Physiology
- Circulation
- American Journal of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation
- Journal of Professional Exercise Physiology
- Pediatric Exercise Science
- International Journal of Obesity
- Physical Therapy Journal
- Pediatric Physical Therapy Journal
*Note: Many of these search tools focus on health research, rather than exercise performance research
Only use these tools if you are not able to find what you need in library databases, Primo, or inside specific journals.
PICO
PEDro (Physiotherapy Evidence Database): free database of over 19,000 randomized trials, systematic reviews and clinical practice guidelines in physiotherapy. For each trial, review or guideline, PEDro provides the citation details, the abstract and a link to the full text, where possible.
Research Search Tools
Epistemonikos (health care focus)
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)
Video Tutorials
Click on the video, then the CC icon for captions.