LibGuides: Nutrition: Effective Library Research: 5. Research databases

A-Z Databases Demo

A-Z Databases List

Nutrition related research can be drawn from across the social, health and medical sciences.

You are likely to use a range of different databases depending on the nature of your topic. The core databases will provide wide ranging content from across health and medical sciences.

However, if you are looking for articles on the social and behavioural content of food in society, Proquest Sociology is a good starting point. Whilst for topics focusing on the psychological impact and mental health aspects of nutrition then APA PsycInfo would be the place to start.

The core databases for your subject are:

CINAHL Ultimate This link opens in a new window An index to nursing, midwifery and community healthcare literature, with full text access to many of the indexed journals.
Medline (PubMed) This link opens in a new window Research literature database covering all aspects of human medicine and related biomedical research. Guidance on searching Medline (PubMed) is available here.
SCOPUS This link opens in a new window An Index to scholarly literature across the life sciences, medicine, social sciences and humanities, supporting comprehensive literature searching.
SportDiscus This link opens in a new window An Index to scholarly literature across the life sciences and medicine.
Web of Science This link opens in a new window A bibliographic index to the world’s leading scholarly literature in the sciences, social sciences, arts, and humanities, supporting comprehensive literature searching. NOTE: not all results will provide the full-text content. Use the "check for this at Exeter" option to find out if the Library provides access to the full text.

Database search Activities

Tutorial: How to search using Web of Science

Tutorial: Searching SportDiscus

Tutorial: How to search using APA PsycInfo

What is a database?

Research databases enable you to see what has been published in the area you are researching. They contain detailed records of thousands of journal articles, book references and conference proceedings. These records usually include the article title, authors, abstract (a brief summary), keywords (to enable your search to find it) and more.

Why should I use a database?

They are a valuable way of searching for published scholarly research across a wide number of sources
You can build complex searches using sophisticated search interfaces. There will be plenty of options to refine your searches, ensuring that the results are likely to be relevant to your needs
They contain huge numbers of records, and thus provide comprehensive subject coverage
They also provide frequent (often daily) indexing, and so are very up to date

There are many different databases. Their interfaces will all vary, and they may use different terminology.

However, they all have similar features. Once you are familiar with these, you'll be able to find your way around different databases. You can see the main features in the examples below.

This is what a standard database interface looks like:

Once you click the Search button, the results page appears:

It is important to note:

Some databases provide full text access to the articles themselves.
Some databases are primarily indexes or bibliographic databases, and although they provide information about the content of a journal article, they may not provide full-text access to the actual article itself.
Some databases are a mixture of full-text and indexed/bibliographic access.

So, when searching databases, be prepared for an extra step.

After finding a relevant article or book you need to check whether you have access to that item, either in print or in full-text online. Many of the databases will have a Check for this at Exeter button; clicking on this link will check whether we have access to the item.

Databases Platforms

The following database use the Ovid platform:

APA PsycInfo This link opens in a new window Extensive bibliographic database covering psychology and related disciplines.
Social Policy and Practice This link opens in a new window Evidence-based social science research database for policy-makers and practitioners within health and social care.
Global Health This link opens in a new window Literature relating to global public health issues. Useful for research into national and international public health topics.

The following databases use the EBSCO platform:

CINAHL Ultimate This link opens in a new window An index to nursing, midwifery and community healthcare literature, with full text access to many of the indexed journals.
SportDiscus This link opens in a new window An Index to scholarly literature across the life sciences and medicine.

The following databases use the ProQuest platform:

Proquest Sociology Collection This link opens in a new window Full text database covering sociology and related disciplines.
Applied Social Science Index and Abstracts This link opens in a new window Abstracts and indexes to literature across the social sciences.
International Bibliography of the Social Sciences (IBSS) This link opens in a new window Abstracts and indexes to literature across the social sciences.

Web of Science

Web of Science is a large multidisciplinary research database covering all subject areas.

You can use it to discover the global literature on a wide range of topics. It is not a full text database, but you can use it to discover published material and follow links through to discover the full text available on other services. For in depth guidance explore the Web of Science learning site, YouTube Videos or the Web of Science LibGuide.

Web of Science This link opens in a new window A bibliographic index to the world’s leading scholarly literature in the sciences, social sciences, arts, and humanities, supporting comprehensive literature searching. NOTE: not all results will provide the full-text content. Use the "check for this at Exeter" option to find out if the Library provides access to the full text.

Web of Science search image

SCOPUS

SCOPUS This link opens in a new window An Index to scholarly literature across the life sciences, medicine, social sciences and humanities, supporting comprehensive literature searching.

Access to thousands of abstracts for articles, conference papers and book chapters across a range of subject disciplines. Use SCOPUS to link to full-text holdings, find related items and track article citations.

Document search is the default option, searching for your search terms in the article, title, abstracts and keyword fields. You can add additional rows to your search query by using the plus button. Use the limit option to restrict your search results based upon date range, document type or access type. For more information about how to search SCOPUS on the LibGuide or see their range of tutorials.