Searching SPORT Discus
Before You Begin
Developing Your
Search
Doing Your
Search
Finding
Results at Lovejoy Library and Beyond
What’s in SPORT
Discus?
SPORT Discus is an international database produced
by the Sport Information Resource Center. The
database provides international indexing of over
2,000 journals, magazines, theses, and conference
proceedings. SPORT Discus contains
bibliographic references to published information
on sports medicine, exercise physiology,
biomechanics, training techniques, recreation,
facilities and other related subjects. This
database is not full text.
How do I get into SPORT
Discus?
Go to the Lovejoy Library Online Information page
here
Go to Journal and
Newspaper Databases, go to Education, go to SPORT
Discus.
Developing Your
Search
When searching for articles in SPORT Discus,
you might be tempted to turn to this database, plug
in your search terms, and take the first
likely-looking article you run across. However,
that is neither a thoughtful nor a critical way to
do research.
First things
first…
You have a research question of some sort. Write
that down on paper. For example, “I want to
find out how keeping fit benefits elderly
people.” Break that question into major
concepts, in this case, fitness, elderly people and
benefits.
Next things
next…
SPORT Discuss uses a Thesaurus to index articles.
You need to find out if your major concepts match
up with their search terms. Click on the Thesaurus
button on the right side of the screen. Type in
your concept (“elderly”) and click Go
to Subject. This reveals that SPORT Discus uses the
term “aged” for “elderly.”
Mark the box next to this term and enter Search
Checked Subjects. Repeat this procedure for each
concept.
SPORT Discus will save your concept searches.
Click on the Searches button on the side of the
screen. The search term will appear with the number
of hits highlighted. Click on the box beside each
term. You can combine these searches by clicking on
the Combine Checked button on the right side of the
screen.
What if my search term
isn’t in the thesaurus?
Return to the search screen. Click on the Words
Anywhere button at the top of the search box. Type
in your search term. Look over the list of
citations and abstracts. When you find one that
looks relevant, scroll down to the bottom until you
see the initials DE: There will be a list of
thesaurus terms. You can use these to further your
search.
What if I get too many
hits?
You can limit your results. Click on the Set Other
Limits button underneath the search box. You can
limit your search by language, publication year,
document type and other variables. You can redo
your search with these new limits by typing in the
search number (e.g. #1, #2, #3) in the search box.
Marking and printing
records
As you scroll through the list of citations and
abstracts click on the box next to each record that
looks promising. When you’re done, click on
the Show Marked Records button on the right side of
the screen. Click on the print icon at the top of
the screen.
Finding articles
After you have a list of citations, you’ll
want to find out which journals are in Lovejoy
Library and whether they’re in print or
microfiche.
Go to the Library Catalogs page here
You can
search the online catalog using Telnet or a Web
browser.
Full text online
Lovejoy Library subscribes to a number of databases
that include some full text journal articles. You
can search these databases with a single effort. Go
to the Journal and Newspapers Databases page here
Type in the journal title in the search box at
the bottom. A grid will appear with the full text
coverage dates on the right side. Check the dates
of your citations against the full text coverage
dates. Click on the hot blue link and type in the
journal title. Open up the Keyword box and click on
source. Enter the author’s name in the second
box and click on author.
What if the journal I need
isn’t in the library or available
online?
You can request a copy of the article you need from
another library. An online form for this request is
available here
Paper
request forms are also available in the library.
Average turn around time for an Interlibrary Loan
request is 10 days to 2 weeks.
If you have any questions, comments, or need
further assistance, please feel free to contact the
subject librarian.
Matthew Paris
Education Librarian
mparis@siue.edu
(618) 650-2906
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