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SPORTDiscus: Viewing & refining results

Use this guide to help you search SPORTDiscus more effectively and to find out how to manage your search results. After reading this introductory page, click each heading in the following row of tabs:

Re-sorting your results

  • Results appear, by default, in order of those that are most relevant. You can change them to appear in date order (starting with the most recently added). To do this, click the 'relevance' option just above your results and change it to 'date newest'.

 

  • The database applies an automated calculation (an algorithm) to determine the relevance of each result. This takes into account, for example, the frequency and context of your keywords as they appear in each record. The relevance ranking might not reflect your own research needs so be prepared to browse beyond the top few "most relevant" results.     

Refining the range of your search

  • Only a few search results? Click the 'Advanced Search' link (below the single search box near the top of the screen). Consider whether there are any further alternative keywords that could be added. Also consider whether any of the concepts you originally identified are of only marginal relevance - if so, remove the corresponding set(s) of keywords. Check your new search results to see whether this approach is more effective.
     
  • Too many irrelevant results? Click the 'Advanced Search' link (below the single search box near the top of the screen). Consider whether any individual keywords are of only marginal relevance - if so, remove these and try another search. Also consider whether a further concept needs to appear in each search result. If so, add another search box and enter corresponding keyword(s). 

Evaluating individual results

  • If you find a search result of potential interest, click on its title to enter its full database record.
     
  • Within the full record, read the abstract (which summarises the key findings, conclusion and methodologies of the article). This will help you decide whether the full article is of potential relevance to your research question.
     
  • Do consider the currency and accuracy of its findings in the context of other articles. Some older articles are considered to be "classics" and are still frequently cited by other articles.
     
  • Note the terminology used in the abstracts, subject terms and author-supplied keywords.  You may find terms that you haven't included in your own keywords so if they're relevant, experiment by adding them in the relevant search boxes and re-running your search. 

Proximity searching

  • Proximity searches enable you to limit your search to titles and abstracts in which two or more keywords appear in close proximity. This is useful where multiple variations of the same phrase exist e.g. "strength and power training", "power and strength training", "training for power and strength"...
     
  • To do a proximity search, enter the capital letter N followed by the maximum number of words you want appearing between your keywords .eg. N2, N5, N10 etc. For example, if you might want the keywords "training" and "strength" to appear in close proximity within the space of 5 or fewer words, enter: training N5 strength.
     
  • If you have a set of multiple alternative keywords that need to appear in close proximity to another keyword/set, enter the multiple keywords within a set of brackets as follows: training N5 (strength or power)
     
  • If you need to enter further search terms on the same theme but they don't require a proximity search, you must enter an additional set of brackets around all of those that are proximity-related - as follows:
    plyometric* or ((training N5 (strength or power))

Thesaurus Searches

  • Thesaurus searches can help you retrieve a more precise set of results compared to many keyword searches (which occasionally retrieve an unmanageable number of irrelevant results).
  • In SPORTDiscus, terms that best describe the themes of an article are identified using a 'SPORTDiscus thesaurus' and those terms are then added to the article's database record. Some thesaurus terms are automatically mapped to other terms which reduces the need to enter strings of alternative search terms.
  • A word of caution: some themes may not be represented within the thesaurus. Even when they are represented, the most thorough way of searching the database is to include keyword searches as well (this is even more necessary if you're doing a systematic review)


To search the thesaurus:

  1. When you search the thesaurus, search for one term at a time. If you find it in the thesaurus (or the thesaurus returns an alternative term that's equivalent in meaning), select / tick the term.
  2. If the term is a broad term (branch) under which narrower terms (branches) exist within the thesaurus's tree-like hierarchy, you'll see an 'explode' option. Click this if you want to include all of the narrower terms in your search. Alternatively, select individual narrower terms rather than selecting them all. 
  3. Once you've selected your term, click the 'add to search' button to the right and your term then appears in the top search box. Keep adding all the terms in this box (combining either by AND or OR, as relevant). If you do include alternative thesaurus terms for the same concept, ensure that all of the related terms are entered within a single set of brackets.
  4. Click the magnifying glass icon to retrieve your results.

Combining sets of search results

You can run separate searches, each on a different theme, and then combine the two sets of results. To do this:

1. Click Recent Activity in the left-hand column. Here you'll find a list of the searches you've run in your current search session. Tick or select the box next to each search that needs to be combined.
Combining the results of separate searches.
 

2. Click the 'combine' icon (to the right of the 'down arrow' icon).

Combining searches icon.
 

3. Select one of the following options:

AND: select this to create a single set of overlapping results (i.e. a set in which each result appears in each of the previous sets that you're combining). This is useful where each previous set represented a different theme and you want a set in which each result represents all of those themes. 

OR: select this to create a single set of results that lists every single search result from across all of the sets that you're combining (i.e. not just the overlapping results that appear in multiple sets).
 

4. A number identifying each precious search appears in the single search box near the top of the screen (e.g. S1 AND S2; S3 OR S6 etc). Finally, click 'Search' to retrieve your combined set of results.