Databases
How to Choose a Database
In deciding which database(s) to use, it is helpful to note:
- Who: Who is authoring these publications? Are these scholarly, popular, or industry sources?
- What: What can I find in the database? (e.g. articles, conference proceedings, data)
- When: When does coverage begin? How well is historical literature covered? Does it include articles published in the last year?
- Where: What is the geographical scope of the coverage? Does that match your research interest?
NOTE: Your database comparison table distributed in the class (and also to be available from your Canvas class site) helps with locating the above criteria for four of the key databases for finding nutrition-related literature: CAB Abstracts, BIOSIS Previews, PubMed & FSTA
Recommended Subject Databases:
- CAB Abstracts (Ovid) This link opens in a new window
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Provides citations and abstracts to the international agricultural literature, including veterinary medicine, human and animal nutrition, forestry, rural development, as well as other related topics such as tourism and human ecology. Covers over 11,000 journals and conference proceedings and selected books in agriculture. Produced by CAB (Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux) International (CABI) with more than 10 million records. HISTORICAL SCOPE: Archive abstracts added in August 2005 go back to 1910 with 1,860,000 additional records. CAB DATABASE PDFs: As of January 2009, hard-to-find literature may be available as CAB Database PDFs (so noted below the UC-eLinks button). These CABI Full Text items give users automatic access to over 350,000 journal articles, conference papers and reports 80 percent of which are not available electronically anywhere else. NOTE: the default UCD Search Type is set to Advanced Ovid Search.
[Coverage: 1910-present] - BIOSIS Previews This link opens in a new windowBIOSIS Previews is a database for researching the biological sciences literature. Designed by biologists for keeping up with the literature across pure and applied life sciences including agriculture and medicine. Excellent features for searching by taxonomic categories and broad concept codes (subject categories). More than 27 million records in all life science areas, including agriculture, biochemistry, biomedicine, biotechnology, ecology, environmental biology, genetics, microbiology, plant biology, veterinary medicine & pharmacology, and zoology. Indexes over 6,000 journals, serials, books and book chapters, conference proceedings and patents.
[Coverage: 1926-present] - PubMed for UC Davis This link opens in a new windowPubMed for UC Davis offers users vastly more full-text articles than does the public version of Pubmed.gov. Search results in the UCD version display "Get it at UC" buttons providing (with on-campus or VPN connection) access to articles in journals licensed by UC Davis or enabling patrons to request articles that are not immediately available online. PubMed comprises over 30 million citations for biomedical literature from MEDLINE, life science journals, and online books. PubMed citations and abstracts include the fields of biomedicine and health, covering portions of the life sciences, behavioral sciences, chemical sciences, and bioengineering. PubMed also provides access to additional relevant web sites and links to the other NCBI molecular biology resources. PubMed is a free resource that is developed and maintained by the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), at the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM), located at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
[Coverage: 1902-present] - Food Science and Technology Abstracts (FSTA) This link opens in a new windowFSTA (Food Science and Technology Abstracts) is an extensive specialist database covering scientific and technological literature relating to food, beverages and nutrition. Carefully selected food and health research and information is collated, summarized, and indexed for efficient searching. It is managed by a team of expert scientists within IFIS, a not-for-profit organization with an ongoing commitment to learning and development and a reputation for scientific integrity, accuracy and excellence. FSTA covers topics relating to aspects of the food chain including all the major food commodities plus biotechnology, microbiology, food safety, additives, nutrition, packaging and pet foods. It's used by researchers, industry practitioners, and students around the world to keep up-to-date with the latest findings in their fields. FSTA offers in excess of 1,200,000 highly informative summaries of research articles, patents, standards, reviews, conference proceedings and reports, and is used by academics and professionals throughout the world. IMPORTANT: default UCD Search Type is set to Advanced Ovid Search.
[Coverage: 1969-present] - Global Health This link opens in a new windowGlobal Health is a specialist bibliographic abstracting and indexing database dedicated to public health, completing the picture of international medical and health research by capturing key literature that is not covered by other databases. Derived from over 7,000 journals, reports, books and conferences, Global Health contains over 3 million scientific records from 1973 to the present. Almost 155,000 records were added last year, and over 96% of these records include an English abstract. Publications from over 100 countries in 50 languages are abstracted, and all relevant non-English-language papers are translated to give access to research not available through any other database. The database's open serials policy and coverage of international and grey literature means that 40% of material contained in Global Health is unique to the database. Everything from proceedings, theses, electronic-only publications and other hard-to-find sources are included. Global Health has a growing number of full text articles (over 90,000) from journals, conferences, and reports.
[Coverage: 1973-present] - eHRAF World Cultures This link opens in a new windoweHRAF World Cultures (Electronic Human Relations Area Files: World Cultures) is a collection of books and articles on cultures from all regions of the world; it provides information on particular cultures, ethnic groups, or immigrant groups, their beliefs and superstitions, or subjects such as political structure, architecture, kinship units, or settlement patterns. The information is organized by cultures and ethnic groups and the full-text documents are subject-indexed at the paragraph level. Additional information on this resource is available here.
- Anthropology Plus This link opens in a new windowAnthropology Plus brings together into one resource the highly respected Anthropological Literature from Harvard University and Anthropological Index, Royal Anthropological Institute from the UK.
[Coverage: Late 19th century-present] - APA PsycInfo This link opens in a new window
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APA PsycInfo is published by the American Psychological Associations and provides comprehensive indexing and abstracts of the international psychological literature from the 1800s to the present. Documents indexed include journals, articles, books, dissertations and more. 90% of the 3,000+ titles indexed in APA PsycInfo are peer-reviewed.
[Coverage: 1840-present] - Sociological Abstracts This link opens in a new windowSociological Abstracts, and its companion file Social Services Abstracts, cover the international literature of sociology, social work, and related disciplines in the social and behavioral sciences. It provides abstracting and indexing of articles and book reviews drawn from thousands of serials publications, plus books, book chapters, dissertations, conference papers, and working papers.
[Coverage: 1952-present]
How to Access the Full Text of an Article
"Get it at UC" Button
Most databases provide a description of articles and other resources to help you find what you need by searching through the indexed literature within their website. Included as part of the item record is the “Get it at UC” button. Clicking this button will direct you to a copy of the full text of the article.
Interlibrary Loan Request
If we do not own a journal or book, you can submit an interlibrary loan (ILL) request to have the book or article (e)mailed to you for free from another UC library. Learn more about how to request books or articles.
Identify Peer-Reviewed Articles
A peer-reviewed source is an article that has been reviewed by several other experts in the field before being published in order to ensure its quality. This 2 minute video describes the peer review process.
How do I Know if an Article is Peer-Reviewed?
Look for limits/filters
Many databases allow you to specify that you want to search only in “peer-reviewed” or “refereed” sources.
Visit the journal’s webpage
Search online for your journal’s title. Sections like “about this journal” or “editorial policies” generally mention whether the journal is peer-reviewed/refereed.
Check a directory
Use the Ulrich’s Periodicals Directory to find key information about a journal, including whether it has a peer-review process.