How do I use the Kortext Advanced Student Reader?
Answer
Using the Kortext Advanced Student Reader when accessing scanned book extracts on resource lists.
Your resource list will list various items selected by your tutor for your course. This can include full text eBooks, journal articles, webpage links and book extracts or chapters.
This guide will focus on accessing extracts from a book that have been scanned and uploaded by the GSA library team. Students and staff can access reading and resource lists from Canvas (https://canvas.gsa.ac.uk/), by visiting https://gsa.rl.talis.com/ GSA's resource list website, or have been given a direct link to a specific list.
Contents
The image below shows two ways of accessing your resource list in Canvas.
- From the left side navigation menu
- From the Modules section, the link to the list will be labelled 'Resource List'
There will be list entries that link to scanned extracts, the example below is an entry for a Chapter that has been scanned.
When you click the "View Online" link the Kortext Reader will open up in a new tab with the book chapter. If you are not logged in you will be prompted for your GSA credentials before you can access the item.
This is the anonymous reader, you will be able to read, print, search, search the web and download to PDF. However, the anonymous reader will not know who you are unless you are signed in. To use the advanced features of the reader, such as: highlighting, bookmarking, note taking, export referencing and to remember your last read page, you will need to create a free account to log in.
Create a Kortext account
To create a Kortext account click on the Sign in to Kortext link in the top right corner, circled below.
If you already have a Kortext account, enter your log-in details. If you don’t, click Create my account to sign up.
Enter your details and click create my account.
Once you are signed in you will notice a few more tool icons in the left hand-side menu bar.
Note: Advanced features will only work if the document text has been OCR’d, where the text is recognised and selectable. You can check this by clicking and highlighting the text, if you cannot do this please get in touch with us at lthelp@gsa.ac.uk
TIP: If you want to use the advanced features, use the “Remember Me” option when you sign-in, as you will need to sign in every time you click on a new link. However, cookies can be used to remember your credentials and we suggest that these are used to make logging back in easier.
Navigation
The first page of the PDF extract is the Copyright Notice. You can navigate the extract by either using the bars which appear at the bottom of the extract, or by the arrow icons on your keyboard. You can also go to a specific page by typing a page number into the white box next to the navigational arrows.
You can fit the page by height by clicking the vertical arrow icon, this is also the default setting. You can also fit the page by width by pressing the horizontal arrows. These arrows can be found next to the page navigators in the top right-hand corner.
You can zoom in to the extract by clicking the '+' icon in a magnifying glass and zoom out by clicking the '-' icon. By pressing the four arrows, you will make the extract full screen, press the escape key to exit this mode.
Print and Download
You can print the extract, icon circled in blue, either as a range of page numbers or ‘Print All Pages’ to print the whole document, this will open your browser print options.
It is also possible to download to PDF using the icon circled in red.
Search
To use the Search function, click on the magnifying glass icon in the left menu bar. You can then enter your search word or phrase. This will bring up a list of results underneath, you can click on each result to take you to the location in the text, where the word/phrase will be highlighted.
You can highlight text and carry out a search, this will open up a new tab and run a Google search with the selected text.
Highlight text
You can highlight text using a range of colours, this will be saved for when you return to the document. To delete click on the highlighted text and click on the X after the colours.
Create notes
You can create notes by highlighting and selecting Create Note, a pop-up will appear for you to select the highlighting colour, enter information about the note and there are options to share by email or with a group, which can be set up in the Kortext home page.
The Kortext Reader is also able to read out the text for the user. You can do this by highlighting the text. A pop menu will appear, and you can select Read Aloud.
The reader will start reading this and a pop up box will appear.
This lets you skip back, pause, skip forward; select the narrator, “Libby” or “Ryan”; and adjust the speed of the speech by moving the slider along left or right.
Translate
There is also a translate function. Highlight the text and the pop-menu appears, select Translate.
This will bring up the box where you can select the language you wish to translate to. There are many options to choose from.
Export references
You can export a reference to Refworks (.ris) or Endnote (.enw). This function is also available under the highlight options as well as on the left hand-side menu bar.
Note: Please check the reference information that has been exported, as the scans come with basic information and the reference information may not be complete.
Bookmarks
You can bookmark pages using the bookmark symbol on the left of the slider at the bottom of the page. The icon will change from white to purple when the page is bookmarked.
You can find previous bookmarks on the bookmark tab on the left hand-side menu.
Another useful feature is that the Advanced Reader will remember where you stopped reading and allow you to continue reading from that point when you access it again later.
Bookshelf
To get back to your bookshelf, click on the arrow in the top left corner.
Your bookshelf will have two tabs, all the extracts that you have accessed when you were signed in will be listed under Course Packs.
Create Groups
This is also where you can set up Groups, click on Groups in the left sidebar menu. Then click on the Create button on the right.
You can enter details for the Group Name and Group Description.
You can then choose to edit, add members or delete the group.
Search from the bookshelf
You can also perform a search from the bookshelf page. This searches the titles of the extracts you have accessed.
Click on the Course Packs tab and then enter your search term in the Search Kortext box at the top of the screen.
This will bring up search results found in the titles.
Please do get in touch with the Learning Technology team if you have any questions or need support with any of the above.
Email: lthelp@gsa.ac.uk