Getting the most from your Cengage Learning Resources
Tools to Increase Usage
Visit http://support.gale.com to access training material, usage reporting tools, status
updates of Cengage Learning databases and various tools to help your institution increase
usage.
Widgets are easily self-generated pieces of html code that enable you to add a basic search
box to any website (see example below). Visit http://access.gale.com/widgets/ to create
your own personal widgets.
Widgets can be customised in size and content and act as a simple, effective way of
directing your users to a set of results.
Other tools for you to use include: Database Icons, Tiny Gale Links, and Direct Database
URLs that you can use to simplify and illustrate the links on your institution’s resources
page.
Tracking Usage
Monitoring usage is an effective way of seeing how databases are being utilised and
enabling you to target your training resources effectively. Visit www.gale.com/usage to
access our usage system. If you need a password, or have lost yours, email
[email protected] .
When you log in, you will be able to create several types of usage report. Once created,
reports can be scheduled to be delivered to you on a regular basis. One of the most useful
reports enables you to view a breakdown of which titles within your Infotrac product
(General OneFile or Custom Newspapers) have been looked at by your users in a particular
time period.
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Tips for maximising your products
Often, it can be a challenge keeping track of what content is contained in an aggregation
product. To this end, you can visit www.gale.com/title_lists , where you can download the
latest (updated monthly) title list for General OneFile, as well as a ‘Change List’ of what titles
have been added or removed from which product.
Having access to this title list will help you identify the time periods that we hold particular
titles for, which titles have Full Text as well as Index available, and which titles are under an
embargo, and if so, how long for.
You can also use the title list to help you identify which titles are published in which
countries; which titles are published in non-English languages; and what subjects the titles
are classified under.
Identifying UK publications
There are a number of ways to identify UK publications within the Infotrac products. Firstly,
you can use the title list mentioned above to quickly filter the title spreadsheet by Country
of Publication. Within the product, use the Publication Search (below) to filter publications
by Country of Publication:
Publication Search is also good if you need to view a list of all of the publications that you
subscribe to (would be useful with Custom Newspapers), or search for a particular
publication.
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Alternatively, you can use the search indexes in the Advanced Search to search for articles
published in a particular country:
Bookmarks
All search pages, results pages and individual document pages will have a Bookmark link on
the right hand side:
Use these Bookmark links to add the url of the particular search, set of results or document
to websites, assignments or VLEs in order to give users the simplest possible way of
accessing material within the product.
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Creating Search Alerts
To keep up to date with the latest information, and to help educate users, you can create
Search Alerts that will schedule from the Results Page. This will automatically re-run the
search on a Daily, Weekly or Monthly basis and deliver the results to an email address.
In the Tools box in the Results Page, you are also able to Share the list of results through a
number of channels, including Facebook, Google and Twitter to further inform users.
Managing Your Research
Individual users are able to create a named user account with Cengage that will enable them
to organise their research and get maximum value from the products. Functions include
being able to save searches, save Marked Lists and organise documents by tagging them
with keywords. Register and log in via the link at the top of the screen:
Getting Help
All Infotrac products have good context-specific Help files contained within them. Find these
in the Tools menu at the top of the screen:
For any product issues, please contact our helpdesk on [email protected] .
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