Within the Very Short Introductions site banner, you will find a search bar which can be used to conduct keyword searches. Search results are presented in a tabbed result list, allowing you to toggle between search results for book chapters and books where your keyword has been located by the database. There are a number of options for sorting your search results, such as by: relevance, Titles A-Z, and by Print or Online Publication dates. Results lists show 10 results per page as a default, but this can also be adjusted.
Along the left-hand side of the results list, a menu of filter options labeled "Narrow Your Choices" appears allowing you to limit resources By Availability. Here "Unlocked" and "Free" indicate the full-text titles the Tiffin University community has authorized access to. Additionally, within the "Narrow Your Choices" side menu, users with commonly found keywords can provide direction to their search results by exploring the "By Subject" section. Here search results are categorized among academic disciplines and subdisciplines so that users can more effectively narrow their retrieved results by relevance.
Using the "Browse by subject" button in the bottom left of the Very Short Introductions webpage banner, you can hide/unhide the menu used for viewing the wide variety of subjects available within this resource. Click on a subject of interest to see the Very Short Introductions book titles and book chapters available within that category, or click "Browse All" in the lower right-hand side of the "Browse by subject" menu to retrieve the full title list.
Clicking a book title from the results list leads you to a brief summary of the title, including an abstract and information on the author, as well as a hyperlinked table of contents for the selected title. Clicking a chapter heading or title will lead to the full-text of the ebook.
While reading the text of a title, a left-hand side bar appears offering a quick access to the table of contents so that you may jump around within the text more easily. Additionally, the sidebar provides a section on: related content, Very Short Introductions subjects associated with the text you are currently reading, and "Quick reference and more" list of terms. The "Quick Reference and more" menu provides hyperlinks to other Oxford University Press reference e-resources providing clarification or definitions on the words/terms listed. While reading the text within Very Short Introductions, you may print portions of the ebook using the print icon that appear just above the gray title header on the right-hand side. Additional icons exist for: saving titles to an optional Very Short Introduction Personal Profile, retrieving citation information for the title, emailing a link to the book/book section, and sharing the title information on social media.
Like other Oxford University Press e-resources, Very Short Introductions has the Oxford Index tool integrated along the bottom of the web-browser window. Click the arrow/caret next to "About the Index" to learn more about this feature special to Oxford University Press (OUP) products, and the arrow/caret next to "Show related links" to view hyperlinked bibliographies of OUP resources related to the subject/title currently selected within Very Short Introductions. Resources in the bibliographies are divided by material type and include: Overview, Journal Article, Journal, Book, Chapter, Reference Entry, Research Guide, and Article.