Home > Help
previous
Help
Tip: the Help pages are context-sensitive so that, for example, if you were looking at a book's table of contents page and clicked the Help button, you would have been taken straight to the Help section about full text content. You can of course go directly to another topic by using the Help menu in the left-hand navigation area.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about Oxford Scholarship Online
Downloadable PDF of the online Help text
Introduction
When you first open Oxford Scholarship Online, you should see a home page like this:
- Subscribers with IP access – where OSO recognizes the machine or network you are using, as a known subscriber's – are immediately admitted.
- If you have user name & password or library card access, click LOG IN – top right on the home page – and enter your details on the Login Page.
Once your subscription rights have been authenticated by one of these methods, you will see the home page reappear as the Subscribers' Home page, showing in the left-hand sidebar a description of your identity as recognized by OSO.
Note: If you don't have subscription access, you will still be able to see book and chapter abstracts and tables of contents for all of the titles in OSO.
Login Page
Note: If you have an ATHENS username and password (this is only likely if you are affiliated to an academic institution in the UK), click on Athens SSO Login and enter them via the separate Athens login page.
Otherwise, enter your Oxford Scholarship Online username and password to log in to the site and gain your full subscription rights.
If your username and password are not recognized, check that CapsLock is switched off on your keyboard, and try again.
If you are a member of an institution and you are not sure of your username and password, or you are having difficulties getting them recognized, you should contact your librarian for help.
If you still have no success, use Contact Us (in the top navigation bar – see How to Use the Contact Us page) to ask for help.
Otherwise, enter your Oxford Scholarship Online username and password to log in to the site and gain your full subscription rights.
If your username and password are not recognized, check that CapsLock is switched off on your keyboard, and try again.
If you are a member of an institution and you are not sure of your username and password, or you are having difficulties getting them recognized, you should contact your librarian for help.
If you still have no success, use Contact Us (in the top navigation bar – see How to Use the Contact Us page) to ask for help.
Public and Subscriber Access
Throughout your use of Oxford Scholarship Online, you will be able to see tables of contents and abstracts for all titles included in OSO. In subject areas to which you, or your institution, have subscribed, you will also be able to see the full text, and further front- and end-matter, for all included books.
For example, if the subscription is for the subject areas Philosophy and Political Science, you will have access to the electronic full text of all the titles classified under those subjects, and you'll also be able to see contents tables and abstracts for all titles under other subjects, such as Economics & Finance and Religion & Theology.
As you move through the site you will see a combination of the following icons depending on your access rights:
– giving a clear indication of the type of content you can access. If you are not logged in or are a public user you will be able to access abstract and keyword content but not the full text. This distinction will be clearly displayed.
For example, if the subscription is for the subject areas Philosophy and Political Science, you will have access to the electronic full text of all the titles classified under those subjects, and you'll also be able to see contents tables and abstracts for all titles under other subjects, such as Economics & Finance and Religion & Theology.
As you move through the site you will see a combination of the following icons depending on your access rights:
– giving a clear indication of the type of content you can access. If you are not logged in or are a public user you will be able to access abstract and keyword content but not the full text. This distinction will be clearly displayed.
Subject Areas and Books
The texts within Oxford Scholarship Online are organized on two levels: firstly by subject (currently one of four main subject areas) and subject subdivision (e.g. Econometrics or Microeconomics within Economics & Finance) and secondly into books.
It is important to understand that the information in Oxford Scholarship Online is organized by subject and book, because both the Browse and Search tools use these levels to find information efficiently.
If you are looking for information about the use of a particular concept within mainstream theology, for example, you probably don't need to search titles in Economics & Finance. You might prefer to use controls in the Advanced Search interface to limit your search to titles classified under Religion & Theology. The same technique can also help to reduce the number of irrelevant search results when the same word is used in radically different senses in different subject areas. Nevertheless, the powerful features enabled by electronic presentation can offer strong support to cross-disciplinary research. Searching for terms across all subject areas may lead to some unexpected results, opening new avenues of enquiry.
It is important to understand that the information in Oxford Scholarship Online is organized by subject and book, because both the Browse and Search tools use these levels to find information efficiently.
If you are looking for information about the use of a particular concept within mainstream theology, for example, you probably don't need to search titles in Economics & Finance. You might prefer to use controls in the Advanced Search interface to limit your search to titles classified under Religion & Theology. The same technique can also help to reduce the number of irrelevant search results when the same word is used in radically different senses in different subject areas. Nevertheless, the powerful features enabled by electronic presentation can offer strong support to cross-disciplinary research. Searching for terms across all subject areas may lead to some unexpected results, opening new avenues of enquiry.
