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EXPH 475/EXPH 495: Senior Seminar

Research Tips

  1. Use books and reference books to learn about research assessments and methods and medical conditions or injuries in EXPH. See the books tab.
  2. Create a solid PICO question, but be prepared to adjust your question based on what research is available. PICO Worksheet
  3. Review the Evidence Based Practice Guide.  It has information about finding different types of EBP studies.
  4. Use MESH Terms for your concepts when possible. Watch the video tutorial below.
  5. Check out our other Help Guides on Literature Searching and Writing With Sources
  6. Cite your sources and format your paper.

Primary Research Articles

Use these search techniques to locate Primary Research inside databases.

  1. 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.

Advanced Search in ProQuest with added keywords
  1. Filter by Document Type: on the Advanced Search page choose Case Study under Document Type or Publication Type.

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:

Publication type Research

Databases

See the Health Science Tools (PDF) Guide for any easy reference Chart on the features of different Databases

  • 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.
  • ClinicalKey (Elsevier) All of Elsevier’s medical and surgical content in one resource, including books, journals, videos, and images.
  • The Cochrane Library (EBSCOhost) Contains four databases: the Database of Systematic Reviews, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Cochrane Clinical Answers, and Cochrane Methodology Register. Watch a tutorial about Cochrane
  • DynaMed Plus (EBSCOhost) clinical reference tool provides fast, easy access to the latest evidence-based information. 
  • MEDLINE Complete (EBSCOhost) Pubmed companion of biomedical and health journals. Watch a tutorial about Medline Complete
  • 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 Pubmed (website version) and watch a tutorial about using MeSH terms.
  • 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.
  • 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, and other related topics.

Search Terms

Looking for some suggestions for Primo or databases? Try one of these keywords or phrases.

Books

Finding Journal Articles By Journal Title

  1. Open Primo Journal Title Search
  2. Search for the Journal’s Title
  3. Click on the Journal title in the search results.
  4. 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

Research Search Tools

*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.

  • 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.
  • Trip Database – Clinical Search Engine: Clinical search tool to rapidly identify the highest quality clinical evidence for clinical practice. Registered users (registration is free) benefit from extra features such as CPD, search history, and collaborative tools.

Video Tutorials

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