Due to the range of subjects it covers, SPORTDiscus is extremely useful for sport-related programmes, including Sport & Exercise Science, Sports Therapy & Rehabilitation, Sport Coaching Science and Sport & Exercise Psychology. It is also well worth using for Physical Education and Physiotherapy students. It can also be useful for students from other subjects researching topics such as physiology, nutrition, recreation and the impact of exercise on health.

SPORTDiscus searches through well over a million different articles as well as thousands of books and reports, with information dating back over 100 years. Canterbury Christ Church University has access to the “with Full Text” version which includes 600 journal titles in full text form, and the database also provides links to the other journals and electronic resources which the university has access to.

• Go to LibrarySearch
   
• Log in using your CCCU username and password. If you are away from campus or connecting with your own device over Wi-Fi, you will need to include @canterbury.ac.uk after your CCCU username.
  
  
• Select Find Databases, then click on S, and finally click on the link to SPORTDiscus with Full Text (EBSCO) to open it in a new tab.

To get the best out of SPORTDiscus, use the Advanced Search screen. This has three boxes (and the option to add more) and the most effective way to search them is to put one concept into each box.

If there are different words you could use for the same concept, these can be entered into the box with OR between them, for instance, adolescents OR teenagers. Doing this means that SPORTDiscus will find articles that use either of those words, which is a lot quicker than doing separate searches for each word. You can use several different words for each concept if necessary.

You can narrow down your search results using options in the left-hand column. This includes Publication Date and Language. Click Show more, just below the Publication Date, to see the full range of options.

From your list of results, you can click the title of an article to read more information about it, including the abstract, which is a really useful summary of the article. If the university has access to the article, there will be a link saying PDF Full Text or Full Text Finder to take you to it.

For accessibility options, go to Help and search for accessibility or go to the Accessibility Navigation Guide. 

Using the Advanced Search screen, try searching SPORTDiscus using the steps below. This will allow you to practice using some of the most helpful functions so that you’re ready to try these out for your own searches.

1. Try doing a search for handball and exhaustion – put one word in each of the first two boxes on the Advanced Search screen. How many results do you find?

2. Try adding an additional word, by changing the exhaustion search box to say exhaustion OR fatigue. (Make sure that you keep the word handball in the other box.) What effect does this have on the number of results?

3. Now, narrow the search down using the options on the left of the results screen. Use the Publication Date option to select the last ten years, and the Full Text option to display only the articles available through the university. How many results do you have now?

4. Find an interesting-looking article. Click on the title to read the abstract. If it still seems interesting, try to access the full text using the PDF Full Text or Full Text Finder link.

5. Look through the results and consider how you might use these in an assignment for your course.

6. Finally, try a search for a topic that interests you.

Your Learning and Research Librarian will be able to help you make the best use of online resources. For detailed guidance, book a tutorial via the Learning Skills Hub.