Becoming More Paperless

So you've found an article you'd like to share with your class(es), but you don't want to make hundreds of copies.  Here are some options you might consider instead.

Article in Online Database

First, check to see if the article is in one of our online databases. (Click here for a tutorial on finding an article within a database.)Once you find your article, there are three ways to make this article available to your students.     

1. E-mail

Most of the online databases give you the option to e-mail the article, or a link to that article, directly from the database.  Look for a button at the top of the screen that says "e-mail."

2. Durable Links

If the article is found in ProQuest, WilsonWeb, Business and Company Resources, Literary Resource Center, or Biography Resource Center, each article has a durable link.  A durable link is a URL that is consistent over a long period of time. In other databases, the URL that is shown is generated specifically to that particular session and will change each time you return.For a tutorial on how to find the durable link with in these databases, click here. Since most databases are licensed to the University in accordance with copyright laws, every user must be authenticated.  When a person accesses a database from on-campus, this is done automatically.  However, if you want to be sure that your students can access the articles from off-campus, you need insert the following Proxy Prefix at the beginning of the durable link:

https://ezproxy.philau.edu/login?url=

For example, if the durable link is http://proquest.umi.com/article1, after inserting the Proxy Prefix the durable link would look like this

https://ezproxy.philau.edu/login?url=http://proquest.umi.com/article1

Now that you have the durable link, you need to make it available to your students.  There are several ways to do this depending on what technologies you are using in your classes.

  • Blackboard - Insert the durable link into one of the content areas in your Blackboard site.
  • E-mail - Insert the durable link into a message through Outlook or Blackboard and send it to your students.

    3. Full Text

If the article is found in one of our other databases, you can download the full text version of the article.  There are four different ways to do this.

  • Copy & Paste - The most obvious is to copy the article and paste it into a Microsoft Word document that can saved to your computer.
  • PDF Option - Some databases have scanned articles into a PDF document and made them available.  You can download this PDF document directly to your computer.
  • Print - Most databases have a Print button on their screen.  This will convert the article to a format more conducive to printing and/or saving.  Click here for a tutorial that explains how to do this.
  • Print to PDF - From a computer on-campus (or an off-campus computer equipped with Adobe Acrobat), you can print the article to a PDF document.  To do this, follow the tutorial for #3, but rather that selecting Save As, select Print.  Change your printer to Acrobat Distiller.  Click Print and follow the directions on the screen to select a place to save your PDF document.

Once you have saved the article to your computer, you can make it available to your students.

  • Blackboard - Upload the file to the appropriate Content Area. 
  • E-mail - Attach the file to a message and send it to your students either through Outlook or Blackboard.  Click for a tutorial on attaching files in Outlook.

You should not post the article to a web site without explicit permission from the copyright holder.

Article Not in Online Database

If you did not find the article in an online database, consider scanning the document.  The scan will produce a series of image or text files (one file per scanned page) depending on how you scan the document.  These files can then be merged or sent directly to users via

  • Blackboard - Upload file(s) to the appropriate Content Area.
  • E-mail -  Attach the file(s) to a message and send it to your students either through Outlook or Blackboard.  Click for a tutorial on attaching files in Outlook.

 

If you would like further assistance, please contact the Technology Help Desk.

Edited by M. Clauburg | Graphics Credits | Last Updated July 7, 2005 | ©2005 Philadelphia University