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

Throughout the site you can move around using links at the top and left hand side of the screen: these are contained in the Top Navigation Bar and Left Navigation Bar. Underneath the dark blue top bar, a narrow strip contains a row of labels that expands and contracts as you move around the site: this is the Breadcrumb Trail. There is also a Footer Bar at the bottom of the screen that remains constant.
Wherever you are in the site, you can always return to the home page by clicking on the Oxford Scholarship Online logo in the top left hand corner of the screen:

The top, or global, navigation bar stays the same throughout the site (except for the LOG IN label - once you are logged in this becomes LOG OUT).

Use the larger upper case links TITLES, SUBJECTS or AUTHORS to get to the top-level browse pages (see Using the Browse pages).
The row of smaller font links above these offers access to: smaller font links above these offers access to:
Site map - a site overview page, comprising simple links to the principal areas of the site.
Contact us - a form for sending an email message to us at OUP if you have a comment to make on any aspect of Oxford Scholarship Online or a problem using the site that you need help with (see How to Use the Contact Us page). This page also links to information on pricing, free trials and how to subscribe. A final link connects to a page on OUP's privacy policy, i.e. the use made of any personal information you supply, and some legal notices relating to the site and service.
Help - a link to this help document. Whenever you click this link, the system will take account of what's on the page you are currently viewing, opening the help text at an appropriate point. About OSO - a description of the aims and purposes of the Oxford Scholarship Online service, with links to a list of all the titles included, FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions, with their answers) and supporting publicity material.
What's new - links to titles recently added to OSO, grouped under the top-level subject headings.
Log in - a link to the Login Page for subscribers using username & password access.

Please enter your contact details into the Name, Company / Institution, Email address, and Telephone number boxes at the top. We need your email address so that we can direct your query to the correct place, and in order for us to respond to your query. Although you do not have to fill in your name and telephone number if you don't want to, this information can be useful so that we can answer your query quickly. If you are logged in to the Oxford Scholarship Online site, you may notice that your Company/Institution details have been completed for you: these details are stored in our access control system. Next, choose the description that best sums up your query from the Nature of query drop-down menu; if your query is not listed, just select the Other option, and type your message into the main Message input box. When you are ready to send your feedback, click the Go button, or press Return on your keyboard. For information about how we use your personal details (such as your email address) see our Privacy Policy.
If you are not logged in to Oxford Scholarship Online site and use Contact us from the publicly available part of the site, you will be asked to tell us which country you are based in by selecting your country from a drop-down list. This information is required so that we can direct your query to the appropriate Oxford University Press office. If you are logged in, you will not be asked to give this information: this is because our access control system can automatically forward queries from logged in users to the correct office.

The left or local navigation bar changes to provide contextual links and information reflecting whatever is currently in the main body of the browser page, as in these two examples:

Subject's sub-discipline index The Quick Search box and a link to the Advanced Search page are always present.In this example, the left bar's state reflects the selection of the main subject Philosophy. The label Sub-discipline Index is emboldened, as that is the current page on the right. Click on Title Index to see a list of all Philosophy titles in OSO, or What's New for a listing restricted to more recent Philosophy books.

Book Header/Table of Contents page When you're looking at a single title, you can choose whether to restrict the Quick Search to just the current book or all titles. (If you choose the current book, the search is of the full text.)Underneath the search controls are the Contents Scroller and links for citing a title and the cross reference tool (see Citing titles and Cross-references). Click the Top link at any time to scroll to the top of the current page. All the left bar controls illustrated here will scroll down as you move down the main page, so that they are always easily to hand.

Throughout the site you will see a small line of text just below the top/global navigation bar, showing the position of the current page in the structure of the OSO site.
Despite the conventional name of "breadcrumb trail", this is not literally a trail or history - it doesn't show every page you passed through to reach where you are. Instead it describes the current page in terms of its position in a standard hierarchical view of the site.
Reading the breadcrumb line from left to right you see labels corresponding to progressively deeper and deeper pages in this hierarchy, separated by > symbols. Each label is a clickable link: you can use it to move to the relevant position in the site.

In this example the label/link Political Science offers a quick route from a book's full-text home page to the title index for its main subject area.
Whenever you are within a book's full text, you can click on the final label table of contents at the right hand end of the trail to return to the book's home (header) page from any part of the book.

At the foot of each page of the site is a bar containing a link to our Privacy Policy and Legal Notices page, and some copyright information.