Kinesiology, Exercise and Sport Science

Articles and Databases
Books
Reference Materials
Internet Sites
Sports and Recreation
Evaluating Information
Citing Sources

Articles and Databases

Core Resources

SPORT Discus is a resource for literature on sport, physical fitness and physical education topics.
PubMed is the premier source for aspects of human biology and medicine
Biological Abstracts covers all aspects of biology, with emphasis on molecular biology, genetics and microbiology.
Web of Science (cited references) can be searched as a multidisciplinary database or you can search for new articles which cite an older article by using the cited ref search function.

Also of interest

CAB ABSTRACTS is an international agriculture database that includes forestry, nutrition, world health and more.
Dissertations and Theses includes dissertations from most U.S. institutions.
PapersFirst is a database which indexes papers from conferences, symposia, workshops and meetings. To search for conferences themselves, use ProceedingsFirst, which can be accessed via PapersFirst.

Don't forget: Try These First if you want general popular interest magazines and newspapers or pro and con debate information.

Article Search Tips: Finding the best articles on your topic requires a number of steps:

Select a database from the list above.
Enter and combine terms appropriate to your topic.
Look at the best references you retrieve and determine the subject terms used for those articles. Then revise your search using these new terms.
Write down or print off all pertinent information (called the 'citation') including the journal title, volume, date, and page numbers.
Explore other databases and subject terms (which vary between databases) for more information.

Get the full text: Once you find the citation in a database, try the button to see if Penn State has the electronic or print version of the article you need. If the electronic version is available, it will appear as the first link on the Get it! menu. If the article is not available electronically, click on The CAT link to automatically search our catalog and see if Penn State has a print copy. If no other copy is available, you can use the ILLiad link to request it from another library.

Already have a citation? Use Citation Linker to see if Penn State has it online or in print!

Or go to The CAT to search the journal title in the Begins With (Browse) mode of the CAT. It will default to a TITLE search, or you can use the drop down on the right to search on Journal Titles. To find other biological journals in The CAT, do a Begins With (Browse) search for Kinesiology Periodicals with LC Subj Headings as the search type. You can also use LC Subject Headings such as Sports Medicine Periodicals, or Physical Education and Training Periodicals, or Exercise Periodicals, to find more journals in specific topics.

There is also a list of kinesiology journals at UP.

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Books

Use The CAT for finding books owned by Penn State.

CAT Search Tips: The CAT is the list of what is owned by Penn State Libraries. Go to the Browse function if you are looking for a specific title or author (type last name first). Go to the Keyword function and combine terms to search on a topic then use the subject headings from relevant books for additional search terms. Write down the call number and location for any book you want. For more detailed searching information go to the Quick Guide to the CAT.

Suggested CAT Search Terms: Search for general terms like biomechanics, physiology, human anatomy, or more specific terms like human locomotion, sports-physiological aspects, weight training, Hatha yoga, exercise psychology, stretching exercises

Call Numbers: At University Park, most materials in the life sciences are located on the 4th floor of Paterno Library. Exercise science and sports, though, are localed on 3rd floor Paterno, and some of the psychological apsects of sports may be located on the 5th floor of Paterno. General call numbers and subject areas are:

GV - Recreation, Sports, Games (UP location: 3rd floor Paterno)
QH - Biology (UP location: 4th floor Paterno)
QM - Human Anatomy (UP location: 4th floor Paterno)
QP - Physiology (UP location: 4th floor Paterno)
RC - Sports--physiological aspects (UP location: 4th floor Paterno)

Books Elsewhere: WorldCat

Libraries Borrowing Policies: Once you have the books, check them out at the nearest lending desk or self check-out station. Loan periods are usually four weeks but books can be recalled for another user, so respond promptly to library notices. For more information see the University Libraries Lending Code.

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Reference Materials

Access Science - Online version of McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology
International Encyclopedia of Social and Behavioral Sciences - Online encyclopedia with information on psychology, sports, etc.
Gale Virtual Reference Library - Includes reference books such as Sports in America : recreation, business, education, and controversy.
NetLibrary - Electronic books, including some text-books.

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Internet Sites

You can look for kinesiology information on the Internet by using an Internet Search Engine. Usually the search engines are most appropriate when you have a narrow, specific information need. Certain specialized search engines are more appropriate to kinesiology than general search engines such as Google. These include:

Scirus - Search engine designed to find scientific information
Google Scholar - Subset of Google used to find scholarly information; set preferences to search for Penn State information
Infomine - Biological, Agricultural & Medical Sciences - Search engine for pre-vetted scholarly web sites

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Sports and Recreation

Penn State Academic Disciplines related to Sports

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Evaluating Information

To evaluate print sources and web sites, you should ask a series of questions concerning the source’s currency, authority, validity, intended audience and bias. See this How to Evaluate Information site for details.

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Citing Sources

When using information from another source you must give credit to the original author by citing the source. See this guide to citation styles for more details.

See this Statement on Plagiarism and Academic Dishonesty. Plagiarism, whether you copy a paragraph from a book or cut and paste someone else's words from an e-mail, is a violation of Penn State's academic integrity policy.

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