Nottingham ePrints User Documentation

Browsing

Browsing is a good way to access documents if you don't have a specific idea of what you're looking for. There are five ways to browse the archive, by author, by subject, by year of award, by Faculty and School, and by supervisor.

To browse the archive either select Browse from the front page or from the navigation menu at the left of the screen. Then choose which property you wish to browse by eg. "Year".

You will be presented with a list of possible values, select one of these, and you will be given a list of references to documents in the archive (if any) which match this value. To access a thesis, simply click on its reference in the display.

Searching

You can use the "Search" box in the page banner do a simple search for words from the titles or abstracts or keywords. To perform an advanced search, use the relevant link from the 'eTheses home' or 'Simple Search' pages.

Text Search Fields

These are used to search fields such as abstract or author. These are the fields where there is a text entry area, and a drop down menu just to the left of it. Type your search terms into the box. You can decide how the system will use your search terms by selecting one of the options from the drop down menu just to the left of the input box.

Match all

For example searching for "patient care" will search for records in which any of the title, abstract or keywords fields contain both the word "patient" and "care" in any order.

Match any

For example searching for "patient care" will search for any record with either the term "patient" or "care", in any of the title, abstract or keywords fields.

Lists of Values

With these you can select one or more values from a list of values for the system to search for. If no value in the list is selected, the system will ignore this field (i.e. it will retrieve records with any value of this field.)

In cases where each individual record may have more than one value attached to the list, you can also change search behaviour by selecting "Any of these" or "All of these" from the drop down menu on the right of the list.

Any of these.

If this is selected, any record which has any of the values you select will be retrieved.

All of these.

If you select this option, a record must have all the values you choose associated with it to be retrieved.

Years & Dates

When you're searching a year or date field, you can specify a single year or range of years that you're interested in:

1999
retrieves only records where the year is `1999';
1987-1990
retrieves records with years between 1987 and 1990 inclusive;
1995-
retrieves records with years of 1995 or later;
-1998
retrieves records with years up to and including 1998.

Registering

You only need to register if you wish to deposit a digital copy of a research degree thesis awarded by the University of Nottingham.

Overview

  1. Go to the Registration page and create an account
  2. The system will email you requesting confirmation of your registration
  3. Activate your registration as instructed in the email
  4. Fill in your personal details

Forgotten Password

Follow the links and instructions on the Login or Create Account pages on what to do if you have forgotten your password.

Depositing Theses

Before depositing your thesis you must have:

  1. Submitted the paper copies of your thesis to the appropriate Academic Registry or Faculty Office
  2. Produced PDF file(s) representing the final, corrected, version of your thesis, a single PDF file for each volume of your thesis.
  3. Registered with the Nottingham eTheses archive (as outlined above)

Copyright Considerations

Before depositing the PDF version of your thesis you should ensure that it does not include material which infringes a third party's copyright. This could be reproductions of photographs, graphs, illustration, extensive quotations or similar materials. These can be included if you have obtained direct permission to reproduce them from the copyright owner, or if the reproduction is covered by an exception to copyright - such as fair dealing for the purposes of criticism or review. [Further information on copyright]

Overview

  1. Login and then click on the "Deposit eThesis" button.
    It is useful to have the following information to hand:
    • the type of degree - PhD, DM, MPhil, MRes, etc.
    • the full title of your thesis
    • the abstract of your thesis
    • the year your thesis was awarded
    • the names of your supervisors
  2. Select your thesis type and School from the pick lists.
  3. Fill in the bibliographic details (author, title, abstract etc)
  4. Upload (copy) your PDF(s) to the ePrints archive
  5. Review your submission details
  6. Your submission will be checked and will appear in the public archive in due course.

The Depositing Process

The depositing process is divided into a number of stages. You can move between these stages by using the ``Back'' and ``Next'' buttons at the bottom of each screen. This should be familiar to those accustomed to using the ``wizard'' style of interface popular on many modern operating systems.

Rather than clicking in each box before you enter something into it, you may find that your browser will let you use the tab key to move the cursor between the boxes. In this way you can enter the information much more quickly.

Don't worry about losing information you've entered when you press the ``Back'' button on a form: The system will store everything you've entered when you press it. However, you should not use your browser's ``back'' button when you are depositing papers.

Each stage of the process is described in the following sections.

Bibliographic Information

Here you will be asked to enter bibliographic information about your thesis.

Above each input field will be a short explanation of what should be put in the field. To the left of each input field is the field name. If the field name has an asterisk, the field must be filled out before the paper can be deposited; other fields are optional.

The following are the types of input field you may see:

Text boxes.

Fairly straightforward. Just type the relevant information in, or copy and paste direct from your document.

Drop down menus.

Just select the most appropriate option from the drop down menu.

Checkboxes.

Used to indicate a yes or no value.

Lists.

Select one or more appropriate options from the list.

Page ranges.

Type the first page in the range into the box on the left, and the last page in the box on the right. If the range consists of a single page, just enter the page number into the left-hand box, and leave the right-hand box empty.

Names.

You can enter forename and family name. Sometimes you can enter a list of names. In these cases, you can add more boxes for names by clicking on the ``More Spaces'' button on the right. Note that empty boxes are ignored.

To remove names from a list just remove the name from the relevant boxes and leave it empty. Don't worry about leaving a blank box in the middle of the list; the system will ``bunch up'' the list.

Once you've entered the relevant information, click on the ``Next'' button. If there are any omissions from the data, the system will explain what is wrong and re-present the form so you can fix the problems.

Most browsers will allow you to use the tab key to move between the input fields, allowing you to enter the information quickly.

Document Storage Formats

This page shows you an overview of the document files you have uploaded to the archive. The table shows the list of formats you can upload on the left, and the number of files you have uploaded in that format in the middle column.

If you want to upload some files for a format, or remove some files you've already uploaded for a format, click on the relevant ``Upload/Edit'' button. When you do this, you'll be presented with the ``Document file upload'' screen described in the next section.

To remove all of the files for a format completely, click on the relevant ``Remove'' button.

Note that you must upload you thesis as a PDF file.

When you're happy that you've uploaded all of the document files, click on the ``Finished'' button. Later, you'll have a chance to make sure that the uploads have all worked, and to come back and fix anything that's amiss.

Once you've clicked the ``finished'' button on this page, you'll be taken to the ``Deposit Verification'' page described in a later section.

Document File Upload

If there are no files uploaded in a particular format, you will be presented with an upload menu from here you can select how you'd like to upload files to the archive.

File upload

Choose this option if you want to upload files you have on your computer as-is. For example, if you have a PDF file on your hard disk, you would choose this option.

You will be presented with a screen where you can either type in the full filename and path of the document file into the text field, or (recommended) click on the ``Browse...'' button, and select the relevant file using the file selector.

When you've entered the filenames, click on the ``Upload'' button. You'll then be taken back to the ``Document File Upload'' screen.

The ``Delete'' buttons on the right of the table can be used to remove individual files that you've uploaded in error. ``Delete all files'' will wipe the slate clean (for this document storage format only) so you can start again.

You can continue to upload more files as before. If you've uploaded all necessary files, click on ``Finished''. This will take you back to the ``Document Storage Format'' page.

Deposit Verification

This page will display the abstract page for your thesis as it will appear in the archive. You should carefully check that all information has been uploaded correctly.

You should also check that the document files have been uploaded correctly. If you spot a mistake, you can use forms' ``back'' buttons (not the browser's ``back'' button) to cycle back through the depositing process and fix any mistakes.

If you're satisfied that everything is correct and has been uploaded correctly, and have read, understood and complied with the agreement at the bottom of the page, click on the ``Deposit'' button to deposit your thesis in the archive. It will then be put in the archive buffer and appear in the main archive in due course.

Contact us

For further advice or information please contact the Open Access Team openaccess@nottingham.ac.uk