Physical Therapist Assistant - Researching in the Technical Phase
Databases for Physical Therapist Assistants
- Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new windowWhat's included: Academic Search Complete is a scholarly, multi-disciplinary full-text database, with more than 5,300 full-text periodicals, including 4,400 peer-reviewed journals. Uses include: Searching index and abstracts records for various journals and publications including monographs, reports, conference proceedings, etc.
- Credo Reference This link opens in a new windowWhat's included: Our largest online reference collection. Uses include: Resources for study such as atlases, biographies, dictionaries, and encyclopedias.
- Health Source - Consumer Edition This link opens in a new windowWhat's included: Articles for patients on nutrition, exercise, medical self care, childcare, drug and alcohol abuse, and more. Uses include: Searching the medical dictionary and drug guide for research topics.
- PLOS: Public Library of Science This link opens in a new windowWhat's included: Peer-reviewed, open access journal articles on all fields of science and medicine. Uses include: Review articles for your research on exercise wellness.
- PubMed This link opens in a new windowWhat's included: Citations of articles covering biomedical and life sciences. Links to Full-Text when available. Uses include: The Topic-Specific Queries tool will assist in finding records, subjects, and topics for research.
- PubMed Central This link opens in a new windowWhat's included: PubMed Central (PMC) is a free full-text archive of biomedical and life sciences journal literature at the U.S. National Institutes of Health's National Library of Medicine (NIH/NLM). Uses include: Review full text articles via PubReader on any mobile device.
Finding Systematic Reviews and Clinical Queries in PubMed
PubMed's systematic review articles are highly valued in the physical therapist community, as they demonstrate growing consensus on scientific topics. After running a search in PubMed, go to the sidebar under "Article Type" and check the box to limit to systematic reviews.
Also try this search of PubMed Clinical Queries. See the difference in the results when you set the scope to Broad vs Narrow.
Peer Reviewed Journals for PTA Students
Peer reviewed journals are a student's best source of original research in the field. To read the most current issue of a professional journal is to keep up to date on the latest scholarly conversation in the field, and be more aware of the issues and trends that are most relevant to your peers. To search a database that collects the most current issues as well as previous issues, using key words to focus on specific topics, is to understand how the conversation has evolved into its latest form, and what future evidence-based research may be pursued on topics of great importance.
When quoting directly or paraphrasing from peer reviewed sources from professional journals, be sure to give credit to the authors using the proper method of citation.
Below: Peer Review explanation video and Peer Review Explanation (two-sided pdf)