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How to use…
SportDiscus
SPORTDiscus is the most comprehensive bibliographic database covering sport,
physical fitness, exercise, sports medicine, sports science and allied subjects. The
database includes over 750,000 records with coverage going back to 1800; over
20,000 dissertations and theses and references to articles in 60 different
languages.
SPORTDiscus does not contain the full text of articles.
There are some direct links to full text in Ebsco databases. Otherwise, click on the
SFX
button to see if the full text is available in other databases, or to
search for a print version in Edinburgh Napier Libraries.
Getting started
You will find SPORTDiscus within Ebscohost. Follow the instructions below to find
the database and log in.
On Campus
 Go to NUINlink
http://nuinlink.napier.ac.uk
 Click on ‘Find Database’.
Type ‘Ebsco’ and click Go.
 Click on the database name
‘EBSCO’, and you will be
automatically logged in to
EBSCOhost.
 Scroll down the list of databases to
find SPORTDiscus.
 Tick the box next to SPORTDiscus
(you can also choose to select other
databases you would like to search at
the same time) and click on Continue.
Off Campus
 Go to NUINlink
http://nuinlink.napier.ac.uk
 Click on ‘Find Database’.
Type ‘Ebsco’ and click Go.
 Then click on the database name
‘EBSCO’.
 When you see the Web Login
Gateway, enter your University login
(the same username and password
you use for email or WebCT).
 Scroll down the list of databases
within EBSCO host to find
SPORTDiscus.
 Tick the box next to SportDiscus (you
can also choose to select other
databases you would like to search
at the same time) and click on
Continue.
Searching
You are automatically taken to the Advanced Search screen.
Enter your search terms in the boxes at the top of the screen.
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to search for more than one word, but not necessarily together, enter
words into separate search boxes at the top.
If you enter more than one word into one search box, only results that
contain the terms within five words of each other will be returned.
Choose how you want to combine them, using and, or or not from the
dropdown menus (to learn more about this click Help and find Booleans
in the menu)
The search is preset to search in the most useful fields
 e.g. it will search for your words anywhere in article titles, article
subject headings, author, and abstracts (summaries)
 to make it search in a particular part of the record instead, such as
Author or Source (i.e. Journal Title) use the Select a Field dropdown
menu
You can now search straight away by clicking the Search button
Alternatively you can set some limits (to get a smaller number of search results)
before you start:
 You can limit your search to Peer Reviewed journals only
 You can limit to Linked Full Text – but this might not find everything we have
at Edinburgh Napier.
 You can choose to search in just one Publication
 You can limit your search to certain published date ranges, certain types of
publication, or by language or country if you wish.
 You can expand your search (to get a larger number of search results) by
selecting the box to include related words from the thesaurus.
Click on Search when you have made all your choices
Displaying results
Your search results will appear, ten records at a time, sorted by date descending
(with the most recent first).
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Click on the Date Descending Sort link in the blue toolbar to sort the list
instead by relevance, source (i.e. journal name), date ascending or
author.
If you get too many results you can use the limiters in the left column to
narrow your results by subject, date etc.
Clicking on a title allows you to see the full record and its citation.
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Subject Terms are linked to all other records in the database that have
been indexed with the same terms – allows you to explore if you want.
Click where it says Check SFX for more information
to see
whether we subscribe to the full text of the article
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Click on Result list at the top if you want to return to your list of hits.
You can change your search from here if you are not happy with your results.
Marking
You can store items that interest you for saving or printing by clicking Add to folder.
You will see them going into a folder at the right of the screen.
 Click on the Folder View link or the Folder button at the top of the screen to
see the contents.
 To store these items within Ebsco for a future session, you must click on the
link Sign in to MyEBSCOhost, to create a personal folder, or open one you
have already created.
 Once you have done this, you can create different folders for different
searches or projects and add or remove items.
 Any items you store in your folders will be retained even after you sign out of
MyEBSCOhost, and can be viewed by logging back in.
Click the Back link to return to your results.
Downloading
Whenever you are viewing full records you will see buttons at the right of the screen
to Print, Email, Save, Cite, Export or Add to folder. Click whichever of these you
wish to do and you will see a screen inviting you to make some choices.
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You can accept one of the standard field formats for citation and abstract
 choose from the drop down menu:
 Brief citation, orBrief citation and abstract, or
 Detailed citation and abstract
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Alternatively, to customise your own, click Customized Field Format,
choose from the options that come up, and click the button.
Choose a citation format
Saving
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This option gives you an additional choice to save the details as a HTML
webpage, .txt file, or as a persistent link to the article.
Click the Save button on the left, then follow the instructions to copy and paste a
persistent link or save the page.
Click Back to return to your search
Emailing
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Enter your email address, enter a Subject, and comments if you wish, choose
plain or rich text.
Click Send
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Click Continue to return to your search
Printing
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click the Print button on the left
Click Back to return to your search
If your article is in PDF full text, click on the link to open it, and then print using the
print
button at the top of the page.
Other ways to search
Visual Search – Choose this from the options under the search box. Have your
results returned as an interactive set of blocks. You can narrow your search very
quickly, but it will only return the 250 most recent results.
Basic Search – Choose this from the options under the search box. All your terms
are entered into a single box. See the onscreen Help for advice on Boolean logic
and structuring your search.
Thesaurus Search – from menu bar at top
Enter a term in the Browse box, and choose to see entries beginning with your
term, containing your term, or ranked by relevance. You can add thesaurus
terms to your search by marking them and then clicking the Add button – they will
be linked by OR, so make sure that is what you wanted.
Indexes - from menu bar at top
Allows you to browse the entries in a variety of indexes, such as Author, Date,
Subject terms. Again, you can mark terms of interest and Add them to your search.
Choose Databases
Allows you to move another Ebsco database, or search several databases at once if
you wish.
Saving searches
Once you have carried out a search, you can save the search strategy if you want –
click on Alert/Save/Share
 You will see a Permalink on the right for you to save to file or email to
yourself, or bookmark – when you click this later, the search will automatically
run.
 You can also add the search to your MyEbscoHost folder
 You can also set up an email alert so that you get new results emailed to you
at regular intervals.
 To see or reuse the searches you have carried out in your current session,
click Search History (under the search box).
Exiting
To exit, close down your browser.
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