HESS559: Research Methods in Sports Management (Davakos)

Finding information at the Daniel Library is easy - once you know where the tools are, and what they do. Here's how to get started with your research!

1. Head to our library website, and take a look around the home page. You will notice a big search box in the middle under the tab Discovery. This is our Discovery tool. The Discovery tool searches the majority of our holdings, meaning it searches many of our databases all with one search. It is a good place to start your research.

2. You will enter your keywords. This means you are telling the tool what you want your resources to be about. Let's say you want to find resources about violence in sports. You might try typing in "violence in sports" or "sporting violence". You may also want to try using Boolean operators, meaning you use operators such as AND, OR or NOT. For example, you want to learn about violence in sports, but you don't care if it involves football. You would type in "violence AND sports NOT football". Once you've settled on your keywords, hit search. You can refine your results on the next page.

3. Now you have a page of results. (Keep in mind that if you are accessing this from off campus, it will ask you for authentication. You will need to supply your CWID and your last name. If it doesn't work for you, please call us at 843-953-2569.)

Your search terms are in the top left hand corner. Your tools to refine your results are in the left column, and your results are in the middle. It's important that you refine your results to find the best possible resources. Your results will automatically change. Here are what some of the more important limiters mean:

• Electronic Full Text - Articles that we have the full text version of, instead of just the abstract or description of the article. (You can always interlibrary loan articles we do not have in full text, but it can take a few days.)
• Available in Library Collection - Checked by default. Generally means we have access to the resource.
• Scholarly (Peer Reviewed) Journals - These articles come from peer reviewed journals.
• Catalog Only - Results coming back from our catalog, which houses our physical collection, as well as e-books and streaming video.
• Publication Date - Slide this over to get resources written in the last 5-10 years.
• Sources Types - Filter our types of resources. Select Academic Journal if you only want to view articles from academic journals.
• Databases - This shows you all the different databases you are getting results back from. It's important to take note of these, because you can also search these databases individually, and they will have more specific refinement tools for your discipline.

When you are ready to look at a resource you think will suit your needs, click on the title of that resource.

4. This brings you to the record of the resource you wish to view. In this case, we are looking at an article from a peer reviewed academic journal.

To view the article, you will select it from the left hand side. It will typically say PDF Full Text or Linked Full Text. Information about the article is in the middle column. You will need this information to cite your source. (More about that under the Cite Your Sources tab.) Tools for saving the article can be found on the right hand side. Another handy feature is the Cite tool. You can pull a citation in APA, but keep in mind that the citation tool is computer generated and rarely 100% correct. Please verify your citations using our Citing Sources guide.

That wraps up your crash course in using the Discovery tool. Remember that if you get lost, your friendly librarians are always here to help you. We can work with you to refine your topics, and find good resources for your research. We're available in person, and on-line. Get in touch!